Authorities still have yet to make an arrest in connection with last week's raid of a downtown Fremont business, but detectives have turned over evidence to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and are looking to obtain more warrants as they continue to try to "tie the investigation up."
Police say they suspect Michael Papalia, owner of Sportsmans Coffee Shop, 122 S. Front St., of running a gambling, narcotics and sex operation out of the shop and last week seized gambling paraphernalia and documents, thousands of dollars in cash, and two computers -- which have been handed over to BCI for further examination.
"There are still some avenues we need to look into," said Detective T.J. Woolf of the Fremont Police Department. "We want to see if we need to expand this investigation or not."
Woolf said Papalia, who was present at the time of the raid last Tuesday, has not yet been arrested and will not be until all of the evidence is gathered and presented to Sandusky County Prosecutor Tom Stierwalt.
"We have more than enough evidence to move forward with the case," he said. "... we don't feel it's in our best interest to rush this. We'd prefer to work with the prosecutor before we do anything. It depends on how long it takes BCI to go through the computers and how quick we get information from them."
In addition to confiscating the gambling materials, police, who watched the business for weeks before executing the search warrant, say they also saw evidence of other illegal operations including drug abuse and sex.
Woolf would not comment further on the drug and sex aspects of the case saying only that the investigation "revealed drug abuse" and that "gambling, drugs and sex often go hand in hand and we've found evidence of all three."
Papalia returned a phone message from The News-Messenger saying he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
A message seeking comment was left with his Fremont-based lawyer Jon Ickes but was not returned.
Woolf said every possible angle will be exhausted before any action is taken against Papalia.
"(The case) is still in the investigative stage," he said. "The search warrant was just the beginning."
!
