Texas City poker players head to court

By TJ AuldsThe Daily News

TEXAS CITY — Almost half of the 78 people ticketed for gambling at a local bar last month accepted an offer to pay a reduced fine and to have any note of a conviction cleared from their records. Few were actually happy about it.

The municipal courtroom in Texas City was packed Monday morning with more than 50 of the people who were cited for gambling while participating in a Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament at the Shenanigan’s club on Dec. 5.

All were caught up in an afternoon raid on the game that saw the bar’s owner, Frank Skaggs, and his manager charged with running a gambling place.

None of those in court Monday faced more than a class C misdemeanor charge. City prosecutor Robert Barfield claimed that most of those who had been ticketed for playing in the game had been told by Skaggs the game was on the up and up.

“We have no interest in seeing you convicted for this,” Barfield told the group.

So, the prosecutor offered a deal — anyone wanting to receive deferred adjudication on the case could pay a $127 fine and, as long as they did not receive another citation for gambling within the next 30 days, would have no record of a conviction.

Many of those who had played in the game last fall said they believe neither they nor Skaggs had violated the laws, at least the spirit of the state’s gambling laws.

“I don’t feel we are guilty of anything,” said Texas City resident Jimmy Daniels, one of the 22 who opted not to take a deal and go to trial. “You’ve got games people play for money all over this town, why pick on us for playing poker?”
Still, most grudgingly opted for the lesser fee and opportunity to have any conviction wiped from their criminal records.

“My job as an income tax preparer, it just wouldn’t look right,” said Paula Stull of Texas City.

The avid gambler said she would stick with crossing the border to casinos in Louisiana to place her bets from now on.

“All they did was send more money across the border,” Stull said.

Skaggs, the former mayoral candidate who sued the city over its ordinances on the slot-machine type games called eight-liners, was also on hand “lending support” to his customers who found themselves before the judge.

The longtime club owner stuck by his earlier claims that Texas City police never told him running the poker game at his establishment was illegal, even though he had asked. Police maintained Skaggs had been told twice, once in person and a second time by phone, that his plan to hold a weekly poker tournament in the club was illegal.

“They are lying,” Skaggs said of police assertions that he was told the game would not pass legal muster. “If I were told it was illegal, then it would have never happened. I would not do anything that would be considered illegal.”

On Monday, The Daily News filed an open records request seeking phone logs and any recordings the police department has of the conversation with Skaggs.

Skaggs continued to drum beat accusations that his bar was singled out for the raid as political retribution for running against Matt Doyle for mayor.
The police and mayor have denied those claims. Doyle said he was unaware of the raid until contacted by the media the night police shut the game down.

Some claimed the city was seeking money.

“The money don’t make an issue with me. I’ll pay it. It’s the principle,” said Matt Mendoza, a Pearland resident who declined the lesser fee and was set to fight the charge. “If it was wrong, (the police) should have just come in and said to stop. But they just want to make money off of the people to solve their own problems.

“This wasn’t about stopping any sort of crime,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza has plenty of supporters. Even many of those who decided not to fight the charge of gambling claimed the city was more interested in collecting money.

“This has nothing to do with fighting crime, we are not criminals here,” said Bart Jennings of La Marque. He also said he would fight the ticket. “This is all about money. How much money can they get out of us?”

For Jennings and the 21 others who passed on paying the $127 fine, they risk paying even more. If convicted, those who elected to go to trial face up to a $500 fine, plus court costs, Barfield said.
The prosecutor also said he would likely not offer the same plea bargain to those who elected to go to trial.

That didn’t faze Dickinson resident Juan Flores.

“I’m going to court. This ain’t right,” he said. “I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court.”