The money surrendered from a Norwalk bookmaking operation in '03 has been divided.
Iowa authorities paid back a $270,000 federal grant, split thousands of dollars among prosecutors and police agencies, and still managed to bank nearly $127,000 from the much-publicized 2003 probe of a Warren County gambling ring.
Figures from the Iowa Department of Public Safety show that Norwalk bookmaker Bob Derryberry and his associates - none of whom, despite repeated threats of major prison time, ended up with anything more than probation - have contributed $126,928 to the state's asset forfeiture fund.
The money, which authorities say will be used to buy a variety of security and safety equipment for Public Safety employees, is only a small portion of the nearly $500,000 that Iowa pocketed after the massive sports-betting operation ended in 2003.
Derryberry's lawyer on Friday repeated his insistence that government investigators should have made better use of their time and resources.
"My position has always been that there were better things to spend that money-laundering grant on, such as money laundering related to organized drug trafficking," F. Montgomery Brown said. "It appears basically that they had nothing else to work on until an informant dropped this thing into their laps."
Derryberry was one of 11 people arrested in April 2003 at the conclusion of what state gaming officials described at the time as a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling ring. All of the participants eventually pleaded guilty to reduced charges and were sentenced to probation.
In the process, Derryberry and his co-defendants got back less than $37,550 of the $499,015 that government agents seized.
Public Safety spokesman James Saunders said $269,900 of that was used to pay back the special federal money that had fueled the five-month investigation. Small chunks also went to the attorney general's office, West Des Moines police department, and police agencies in Nebraska and Arkansas that helped chase down Derryberry's bank accounts.
The Warren County attorney's office, as is customary in Iowa, received 20 percent, or $38,314.
desmoinesregister.com
Iowa authorities paid back a $270,000 federal grant, split thousands of dollars among prosecutors and police agencies, and still managed to bank nearly $127,000 from the much-publicized 2003 probe of a Warren County gambling ring.
Figures from the Iowa Department of Public Safety show that Norwalk bookmaker Bob Derryberry and his associates - none of whom, despite repeated threats of major prison time, ended up with anything more than probation - have contributed $126,928 to the state's asset forfeiture fund.
The money, which authorities say will be used to buy a variety of security and safety equipment for Public Safety employees, is only a small portion of the nearly $500,000 that Iowa pocketed after the massive sports-betting operation ended in 2003.
Derryberry's lawyer on Friday repeated his insistence that government investigators should have made better use of their time and resources.
"My position has always been that there were better things to spend that money-laundering grant on, such as money laundering related to organized drug trafficking," F. Montgomery Brown said. "It appears basically that they had nothing else to work on until an informant dropped this thing into their laps."
Derryberry was one of 11 people arrested in April 2003 at the conclusion of what state gaming officials described at the time as a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling ring. All of the participants eventually pleaded guilty to reduced charges and were sentenced to probation.
In the process, Derryberry and his co-defendants got back less than $37,550 of the $499,015 that government agents seized.
Public Safety spokesman James Saunders said $269,900 of that was used to pay back the special federal money that had fueled the five-month investigation. Small chunks also went to the attorney general's office, West Des Moines police department, and police agencies in Nebraska and Arkansas that helped chase down Derryberry's bank accounts.
The Warren County attorney's office, as is customary in Iowa, received 20 percent, or $38,314.
desmoinesregister.com
