The owners of two sweepstakes businesses in Dublin filed a civil lawsuit Friday, Jan. 8 seeking compensation for damages caused during a raid conducted last May by the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office.
Holly and Jeffrey Smith are seeking in excess of $10,000 from three defendants — Bladen County Sheriff James McVicker, District Attorney Jon David and Deputy Travis Deaver.
The businesses were shuttered May 29 when Sheriff’s Office deputies removed sweepstakes machines, computer equipment and other items, and six people were arrested on sweepstakes-related charges.
“The purpose of the civil lawsuit is to recoup some of the personal property damage that our property absorbed during the raids,” Jeffrey Smith said during a tour of one of the Aladdin buildings Tuesday afternoon. “It was a terrible abuse of power when a deputy can destroy personal property in plain view of several people with the sheriff and D.A. overseeing the whole raid.
“All of this spectacle was meant to publicly humiliate my family and employees,” Smith said.
Smith estimated between $15,000 to $20,000 in damage was done to the businesses during the raid.
According to the suit filed in Bladen County Superior Court, about 3,500 feet of LED tract lighting hanging outside near the roof line of Aladdin was removed and left on the ground by Deaver, wiring was cut, door locks were destroyed, security cameras were damaged and HVAC remote controls were seized during the raid. There also was damage to the roof, which allowed water to seep into the interior
The suit contends there was no need to remove the lighting, equipment could have been unplugged instead of cutting wire, the HVAC controls did not pose a threat, and doors, ATMs and a safe would have been opened by staff instead of those items being destroyed.
David and McVicker observed and directed the execution of the raids, the suit contends, and that the property damage was intentional and malicious.
The suit says that the primary goal of David and McVicker were to publicly humiliate the Smiths, and to cause gratuitous pain and suffering in the hopes of forcing them to close their lawful business. The suit also says an additional motivation for David’s directive to use destructive force was retribution for an unsuccessful prosecution of Jeffrey Smith concerning an earlier sweepstakes promotion.
Smith was charged in Jan. 2013 with electronic sweepstakes violations in Bladen County. The trial, held in April 2014, ended in a hung jury. Smith reopened his sweepstakes businesses in May 2014 before being shut down in May 2015.
Smith said Tuesday that during last May’s raid, “they damaged a lot of personal property that was not in the search warrant. There was extensive damage to the roof. We had fire damage as a result of this activity. They brought in a helicopter (for the raid). It’s the first time that I know of that a helicopter has landed in Dublin, and I’ve been here all my life.”
Undercover operation
The investigation into Aladdin began April 29, according to the search warrant request filed May 28. Prior to the investigation, the Sheriff’s Office had received a number of citizen reports complaining of illegal gaming activities occurring on the premises, it says in the request.
On May 26, an undercover officer went to both sweepstakes businesses, Aladdin and Lil Aladdin, and played a machine at each, paying $20 to play at each location, the search warrant request says. The agent received a combined $24 when cashing out, according to the request.
“The activities and pattern of conduct observed, involving Jeffrey S. Smith, and his employees have been shown to be consistent with the patterns and customs and practices of those involved in illegal gaming operations,” the search warrant request reads, “and in light of the fact that members of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office operating in an undercover capacity have personally seen and observed the illegal gaming activity at the Aladdin Sweepstakes owned and/or operated by Jeffrey S. Smith and his agents.”
The request asked to “seize the items of property indicated and further to search such items, including, but not limited to, documents, records, computer devices, files and the like, and further … may locate and seize a quantity of illegal video gaming instruments, proceeds of illegal gaming, documents showing facilitation and ownership.”
The next morning, at about 10:30, the raid began.
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