Gambling News by House of Odds

A McDowell County pharmacist under federal indictment on money laundering
and gambling charges spoke freely to undercover Internal Revenue Service
agents about how he ran the gambling operation and skimmed profits from his
drug store, a federal search warrant affidavit unsealed Thursday revealed.
Saad Kamil Deeb, who owns and operates Citizen's Pharmacy in Welch, was
indicted last month by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to
evade reporting about $1.7 million in income he received from allegedly
operating a gambling parlor, his own gambling profits and from skimming
$250,000 or more a year from the business for four or five years. Deeb's
accountant, Bluefield resident Charles "Bud" Donchatz, has been cooperating
with federal investigators for more than a year and introduced the
undercover agents to the pharmacist. Agents recorded a number of the
meetings, including one at Donchatz' office in February where Deeb admitted
he had been making deposits and withdrawals from a McDowell County bank in
amounts just below the $10,000 federally-required reporting mark, the
affidavit states. He also acknowledged doing Internet gambling, most of it
in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, according to the affidavit. And, the
affidavit states, Deeb said he did not want to pay taxes on his profits.
"I'm
taking about a quarter of a million a year," Deeb is quoted as telling the
agent about skimming the pharmacy profits. "I don't like to report all this
sh- and pay taxes on it." But he also expressed reservations about his
alleged illegal activities in February and seemed to have the feeling IRS
agents were closing in on his activities. "I'm expecting any day they're
going to come," the undercover agent reported Deeb told him. Investigators
also went through the income tax returns of Deeb's former girlfriend,
Sherrie Hickson, and his friend, state liquor inspector Jimmy Kemal Hazemey,
the affidavit revealed. Both allegedly did banking and moved money around
for Deeb, though neither has been charged.