9 men sentenced for illegal gaming

Nine men pleaded guilty to illegal gaming Thursday in Charlottetown provincial court.Each received a total of $1,200 in fines and wasplaced on probation for a year. All charges related to participating in activities in support of a criminal organization were dropped.

The men were arrested last summer by an organized crime joint task force on P.E.I.aimed at preventing Hells Angels gaining a toehold in the province.

• 9 P.E.I. men with suspected Hells Angels connection charged

According to an agreed statement of factsread in court by Crown prosecutor Lisa Goulden, police seized lottery tickets of the type used in 50-50 draws and other lottery-style games of chance, as well as record books and thousands of dollars in cash.

The evidence was seized during a search last April of a building on Fitzroy Street where the men used to meet.

The men did not have a permit and, court heard, there is no evidence any of the money raised was donated to charity.

Judge John Douglasalso fined a numbered company $5,000 for violations of the liquor license act.The numbered company owns the property on Fitzroy Street and wascontrolledby three of the men, Robert Vernon Falls, 63, of Charlottetown,Corey Gordon Falls, 29, of Charlottetown, and Ian Roulston Kennedy, 53, of Brudenell.

Also on Thursday, one man pleaded guilty to a weapons charge, for failing to turn over one of three handguns he owned, following his arrest last summer.

KennethBoydeMacLeod, 48, of Murray River,willserve three weeks in jail on the weapons conviction. The sentence will be served on weekends.

The Crown prosecutor called the guilty pleasand sentencessignificant.

"So we have bootlegging, illegal gaming and gun charges.That's something to consider," saidGoulden.

Island police continue to conduct surveillance to monitoractivities of Hells Angels and other outlaw biker gangs, according to Goulden.

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