 Swat team conducts 'laid-back' raid on gambling house
PANAMA CITY — It was the most "laid back" raid Panama City Police Lt. Mark Aviles has ever been on.
"I hate to use that word," Aviles said Wednesday. "But it was."
Aviles and two members of the Panama City Police Department's SWAT team assisted the State Attorney's Office in serving a search warrant Tuesday night at a residence on De Gama Avenue that was suspected of being a gambling house.
Aviles said the SWAT team members were there only because of reports the residence's doors were reinforced and might need special tools to open. He said they brought a ram and did find steel reinforced doors, but they were unlocked.
"We knocked, didn't get a reply. We tried the doorknob and it wasn't locked, so we walked in and said, ‘Hey,'" Aviles said.
He said SWAT normally crashes into a house yelling and brandishing guns. In this instance, he said, they walked in, made everyone inside show their hands and sit in a corner while the search was conducted.
Aviles said one man was allowed to make coffee.
"We didn't put handcuffs on anybody and we didn't make any arrests," he said.
Aviles said his department had received information several weeks ago about a possible gambling "situation" at the house. Officers watched the house but found nothing to move their investigation forward, he said.
He said that once inside, officers found the windows were covered with plastic so no light came through and everyone in the house had parked in what once was a paintball field behind the residence. Aviles declined, however, to discuss anything else about the search.
State Attorney's Office spokesman Joe Grammer said he could "neither confirm nor deny" an ongoing investigation.
The homeowner, Pasco Cain, said he was not arrested but did not want to comment further.
"I don't know exactly what's going on yet," he said.
Florida law allows "penny-ante games," such as poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes or mah-jongg, if they take place in a "dwelling" and the winnings of any player in a single round, hand or game do not exceed $10.
David Angier
Thursday May 22nd, 2008
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