Raids skip over Web cafe with ties to Va. Beach sheriff

VIRGINIA BEACH

Recent police raids of Internet "sweepstakes" cafes appeared to snuff out the businesses in the city. Officers armed with search warrants that alleged illegal gambling raided 11 sweepstakes businesses Sept. 22 and seized hundreds of computers.

But Wednesday, one sweepstakes cafe was open in the Chimney Hill Shopping Center on Holland Road. It advertised that it donates money to the Virginia Sportsmen's Foundation Inc., a charity run by Sheriff Ken Stolle.

Police and Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant aren't sure when it opened.

Manager Janice Reilly said at the business Wednesday that it closed voluntarily after the raids and reopened about two weeks ago.

"We never were shut down or raided or charged with anything," she said.

Bryant said he didn't know it existed until two weeks ago when someone at a bingo hall in the shopping center e-mailed him.

He said Stolle's foundation has "nothing to do with why that place has not been searched and their machines seized."

"I can assure you that would carry no weight with my office and should not, and I'm sure does not have any weight with the police department," he said.

A police spokesman said he wasn't sure why the department didn't include the Chimney Hill cafe in the raid.

"I think our guys had their hands full initially," spokesman Adam Bernstein said. "If one pops open and we become aware of it, we'll send folks in and take appropriate action."

Potential charges from the raids in September would be against cafe owners and operators, police have said. Stolle is neither.

Ownership records in the commissioner of revenue's office, which tracks business licenses, weren't immediately available Thursday.

Sweepstakes games resemble slot machines. Players buy credits to play them and try to earn points. People who win more points than they started with can make money.

Their legality is a gra y area of Virginia law. Operators have argued that they are legal because they are like sweepstakes offered by fast-food restaurants and grocery stores.

Virginia Beach has gone after them, while Chesapeake has not.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued an advisory opinion this year saying they are legal.

North Carolina banned them effective Wednesday.

The Chimney Hill strip mall storefront lacks a banner sign naming the business, but advertising on the front window calls it the "Virginia Sportsmen's Foundation Sweepstakes Redemption Center."

A framed letter signed by Stolle hangs on the wall by the counter. It says that in his opinion the technology used for the games is legal under Virginia law.

On Wednesday afternoon, about 15 people were playing computer sweepstakes games inside the smoky cafe. Players helped themselves to free coffee. Unused computer screens displayed bullet points touting Stolle's foundation's mission.

On Thursday afternoon, the day after a Pilot reporter visited the business and asked questions about it, it was closed. A sign outside said its hours were "24/7."

Stolle, who was a longtime state senator before being elected sheriff last year, is chairman of the Virginia Sportsmen's Foundation. The group's mission is to "promote Virginia's outdoor traditions, including hunting, fishing and conservation," according to its website.

The foundation, starting this year, will provide hunting opportunities to "disabled military veterans wounded while serving our country," the website says.

Reilly said the sweepstakes business has given Stolle's foundation money to build a wheelchair lift to a tree stand used for hunting.

Will Payne, Stolle's former legislative aide, is listed on the website as the executive director. The organization's registered agent is attorney Edward Stolle, Ken's brother and an attorney at Kaufman & Canoles, where Ken Stolle formerly worked.

Ken Stolle said in an e-mail that he didn't have time to answer questions this week about his foundation. Edward Stolle declined to comment. Payne did not return a phone message.

In August, before the raids, Sheriff Stolle said he believed sweepstakes games were legal but that he would wait for a legal ruling before accepting donations.

"If I weren't the sheriff, I would accept these charitable donations and not think twice about it," he said then, comparing the businesses to bingo. "I don't want the public to feel I sanction the activity when it's not my call."

Bryant, who has yet to charge any sweepstakes businesses with illegal gambling, said prosecutors are plowing through massive amounts of evidence. Will there be charges?

"We are waiting to make that determination," he said.

As for the Chimney Hill sweepstakes cafe?

"If they are operating the same as the other 11, they are doing so in peril at this point," Bryant said.

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com