Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- A former Chugiak High School vice-principal was sentenced Friday morning for his role in operating a Valley poker room raided by Alaska state troopers in April 2007.

Superior Court Judge Eric Smith didn't give James McDowell any jail time and said his record will be cleared if he doesn't break the law for two years. He also fined McDowell $5,000.

That didn't stop defense attorney Josh Fannon from having his say.

"This is the most overcharged, over-investigated, worthless case I've ever seen," Fannon said in court. "After eight months of surveillance by many cops, 27 officers carrying machine guns and wearing ski masks" raided the place and "turned up nothing."

Later, Fannon called the investigation a despicable waste of resources. He claimed lawyers, doctors and even cops played at the poker parlor on Bogard Road and were charged up to 5 percent of the take to "pay the mortgage and keep the lights on."

Assistant district attorney Alison Collins offered no rebuttal in court to Fannon's allegations and did not return a message left Friday afternoon.

During the raid, troopers reported finding more than $9,000 in cash, 14 poker tables, gambling ledgers and piles of chips. Eleven people were playing cards at the time.

McDowell was one of eight charged, most on misdemeanors, after the April 15 raid. Only Samuel Henry remains to be sentenced, on April 16. Henry is accused of running the games for McDowell, the owner of the property.

Unless Henry is jailed on a felony for promoting gambling, none will have been sentenced to time behind bars.

In a statement before sentencing, McDowell told the court Friday, "The establishment of the Mat-Su Poker Crew was visible from Bogard Road, one of the most traveled roads in the Valley. We had an Internet site. We ran free poker tournaments at five different bars in the Valley -- all with our name and logo -- where we handed out fliers about our establishment. We obviously didn't think what we were doing would warrant a felony arrest or conviction."

At the time of the raid, Palmer assistant district attorney Richard Payne, now in private practice, described the building as a converted auto shop with no kitchen or dining room, making it a business, not a home where friends gather to play cards.

Find T.C. Mitchell at adn.com/contact/tcmitchell or 907-352-6716.

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