Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Taking illegal bets at a bodega is bad business.

That's the way the city Board of Licenses sees it.

Board members Monday voted to impose a $500 fine on New Way Market, 342 Elmwood Ave., Elmwood, because people were using it as a location to sell chances in the national lottery in the Dominican Republic.

The police went to the market with a search warrant on March 18 and seized cash and betting slips from bettors, an alleged seller and a safe in a basement room. Each slip, according to the police, was a record of a bettor's chance on matching the three numbers in the daily Dominican lottery.

The police charged employee Ronny Peralta, 20, of 83 Wilson St., with taking illegal wagers on a lottery, which is a misdemeanor. Peralta pleaded no contest in District Court, and a judge ordered that the case be filed, according to Thomas DeSimone, a lawyer for Peralta and the bodega. Filing means that if Peralta avoids trouble for one year, the case will be expunged and he will not have a criminal record.

DeSimone told the board that his clients -- the bodega co-owners are Manuel DeJesus and Jeanette Guzman, both of Providence -- admit the basics of the police allegations. The license board issues food and holiday sales licenses to stores, so it has jurisdiction over the bodega.

The police have agreed to return $5,009 to the market as legitimate sales receipts, contingent on the market's forfeiture of $3,150 as the alleged proceeds of illegal betting.

Board member Allene Maynard said she hopes that no other markets in her South Side neighborhood are taking illegal bets.

"It's not going to happen anymore," DeSimone assured the board.

 Tags  Manuel DeJesus Providence RI

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