Attorney General's Office Seizes 300 Slot Machines In Ongoing Investigation into Illegal Sales Operation

Thursday, July 17, 2003
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

(SACRAMENTO) – Attorney General Bill Lockyer today announced gambling control agents in his office seized almost 300 slot machines and 10 firearms after serving search warrants at five locations in Sacramento, San Joaquin and Amador counties this morning.

The search warrants were issued as part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal sale of slot machines to individuals who are not licensed to possess them.

Warrants were served at the residence of Steve Bohlmann, at 6041 Garden Highway, in Sacramento, where six slot machines were seized. Two hundred machines were seized at a warehouse he leases at 701 Dos Rios St. in Sacramento.

Search warrants also were served at the residence of Richard Ubry, 4090 Quail Hill Court in Ione, where 10 firearms were seized. Eighty-seven slot machines were confiscated after search warrants were served at storage facilities he leased at 25690 N. Tully Road in Acampo, and at a nearby property.

Bohlmann, 53, and Ubry, 63, are both registered as vendors of gaming machines by the U.S. Department of Justice and the California Gambling Control Commission, which allows them to legally possess, manufacture, transport and repair slot machines. However, they are not allowed to sell the slot machines in California, except to another licensed vendor or a recognized Indian tribe that provides gaming under terms of valid tribal-state compact. Bohlmann is the owner of Sac Slots, and Ubry is owner of "Games People Play."

The Attorney General's Division of Gambling Control began an investigation in September into allegations that the two were illegally selling slot machines to unlicensed individuals. The investigations continues and will be submitted to the Sacramento District Attorney's Office for prosecutorial review.

The Attorney General's Division of Gambling Control conducted a similar investigation in Southern California in February. Two search warrants were served in Palmdale on Feb. 20, and 57 slots machines were seized. Two people were charged in that case.

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