Ellis surrenders $68,000 in illegal gambling case

Judge Andrew Ballard sentenced Sky Lake defendant Tracy Ellis to one year of community control sanctions, under intensive supervised probation on Friday.

As a term of that sentence, Ellis will remain under house arrest for 90 days, with GPS monitoring and work release privileges. There were no fines assessed, but Ellis was also assessed the cost of the court proceedings, and had to forfeit interest in $68,071.96, seized during the July 2014 raid on Sky Lake, to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s office.

Ballard explained that, as a corporation, Sky Lake can only have its money seized.

Both Ellis as an individual, and Sky Lake as a corporation, were ordered to surrender their interest in the co-mingled funds taken from the safe.

Ellis, he explained, was only charged with felonies of the fifth-degree, on six counts of possession of criminal tools, and two misdemeanor gambling charges, therefore there was no prison time.

Ballard did reserve 11 months of penal time, if Ellis violates the terms of his CCS.

Ellis was originally charged with two first-degree counts of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, 12 counts of third-degree money laundering, four counts of fifth-degree possession of criminal tools, three counts of misdemeanor gambling and three counts of misdemeanor operating a gambling house.

Two counts of money laundering were reduced to F5 possession of criminal tools charges, for a total of six counts, and other charges were dropped