Adult arcades: More arrests made after statewide raid of illegal slot machines
Two more people have been arrested in connection with this month’s statewide raid of adult arcades.
Peter Brover, 64, of St. Petersburg, and Leo Kutin, 64, of Nokomis, which is south of Sarasota, were arrested Thursday and charged with racketeering, money laundering, keeping a gambling house and 41 counts of unlawful possession of slot machine devices.
Brover and Kutin were part of a group found to be operating illegal slot machines at arcades in Fort Pierce, Delray Beach, St. Petersburg and Tampa, according to the Florida Gaming Control Commission.
They’re not the first to be arrested, and they might not be the last.
Florida gambling: Is this the end of adult arcades? Here’s what’s next
Special agents from the state and local law enforcement raided the four arcades on May 9. They seized 360 slot machines and arrested two men: twin 57-year-old brothers, Alexandre Barmak of Fort Pierce and Leonid Barmak of Jupiter.
Officials made more arrests after the raid, including Yuliya Sobolevska, 42, who lived in Jupiter with Leonid Barmak, and married couple Alexandre Friedman, 63, and Anna Friedman, 58, of Sunny Isles in Miami-Dade County.
They all had the same charges except Leonid Barmak, who faced an additional charge of cocaine possession after it was found on him during the raid, according to an arrest report. All had been released on bail as of Friday.
After the raid, St. Lucie County sheriff’s deputies went to every known adult arcade location in St. Lucie County to hand-deliver a Jan. 27 warning letter initially mailed to each arcade.
Many arcades in St. Lucie County and some in Indian River County closed out of fear. Martin County doesn’t allow adult arcades.
Since then, several arcades across the Treasure Coast have reopened — which was expected, said Florida Gaming Control Commission spokesperson Eric Carr. It’s unknown how much longer those will be able to operate.
“We will continue to monitor those,” Carr said. “We’re going to continue to actively work with local law enforcement partners.”
Slot machines became illegal as of July 1 last year, except at 15 approved casinos, mainly in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. That’s because the Legislature approved a Gaming Compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida in May 2021, giving the Native American tribe almost exclusive rights to most gambling activities.
Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm’s entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter @TCPalmLaurie and Facebook @TCPalmLaurie. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Adult arcades: More arrests made after statewide raid of illegal slots
