Charges Dropped Against Card Gambling Couple and FriendColorado prosecutors have finally dropped the charges against three people accused of card gambling in a Palmer Lake Restaurant.
Twenty- four people who were card gambling at a local Mexican restaurant were arrested and charged with a misdemeanor in April when a SWAT team raided the restaurant. The charges against 19 of the people were dropped when the El Paso County District Attorney interceded, offering the card gambling fans the chance to donate $50 to charity instead of having the case proceed.
Three people, however, refused to accept the plea bargain because they said that this would be paramount to an admission of guilt. Palmer Lake Town Board member Trish Flake, her husband Ed Flake, and Diane DeKeyser of Palmer Lake maintained that they had not broken the law.
DeKeyser and the Flakes were, according to DeKeyser, "not willing to pay a price for our innocence…It's not that we don't want to be charitable to our community. We just did not feel like we were guilty of the offense and were not willing to plea bargain."
In Colorado, card gambling is legal among people who have a “bona fide social relationship.” Although the regular players at the Mexican restaurant fit that description, they went wrong in allowing a group of undercover detectives join their game.
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