WISE, Va. ? Appalachia resident Billy Womble entered a guilty plea to 10 misdemeanor charges on Friday for his role in a lucrative illegal gambling operation in his hometown.
Womble's guilty pleas came one week after he took the witness stand against Hubert Summers, his father, the first to go to trial of 10 people netted in the May 2006 gambling raid.
Wise County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Carrico presided over last week's trial and called Womble a believable witness for his candid recollections of the gambling operation and the subsequent money trail.
Summers was convicted on racketeering and money laundering charges and will be sentenced later this year.
Womble, 39, did not have a deal with prosecutors when he testified against his father, but a plea agreement crafted later called for a felony charge of operating an illegal gambling place to be reduced to a misdemeanor. Ten other charges were basically dropped, leaving Womble pleading guilty to a total of 10 misdemeanor gambling charges.
"Are you pleading guilty today because you are actually guilty of the charges?" Circuit Court Judge Ford Quillen asked.
"Yes, I am," Womble replied.
The judge sentenced Womble to a six-month suspended jail sentence and six months of supervised probation on one charge and a total of 54 months in jail, also suspended, and 54 months unsupervised probation on the remaining nine charges. He will serve a total of five years on probation.
Special prosecutor David Childers was asked after the trial if Womble's testimony was vital to the state's case against Summers.
"It was very helpful," Childers said. "He was cooperative throughout the whole thing."
In his father's trial, Womble said the gambling operation on the corner of Main and Spruce streets in downtown Appalachia would open up at 7 a.m. and good days would bring a steady stream of customers willing to wager a dollar or more for a chance to "pull" the winning ticket from a tip board. Poker games were also common, he said.
Womble helped manage his father's gambling house and said a good year could bring $90,000. Not all was profit, Womble said, because many gambled on credit and would not repay their debts. And the house sometimes took a financial hit when business was slow, he said.
Childers said Womble was not a "bad guy" but said it was best to put him on probation to ensure good behavior.
The prosecutor and Virginia State Police Investigator Ray Cox said they are pleased with the way the gambling cases are progressing.
Cox was one of the officers who participated in the massive May 2006 raid that netted more than $500,000 and four buildings when search warrants were issued.
Both were surprised at the scope of the gambling operations. Cox said illegal gambling had been ongoing in Appalachia for at least 40 years. He secretly took photographs of people who frequented the gambling operations during the investigation.
"There was heavy traffic from opening to closing," Cox said. "I'd try to get there by 6:45 a.m. It looked like a beehive."
The gambling raid was criticized by some who said the crime didn't hurt anyone. Childers and Cox disagree.
"Most people don't realize the scope of what was going on down there," Cox said.
"Beyond that, they were breaking the law," Childers said. "It's not really our job to make moral judgments."
"We don't make the laws," Cox said.
Four other defendants are expected to go to trial on gambling charges.
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