Wednesday January 7,2015 : FLORIDA LAW ENFORCER CONVICTED IN MAJOR ONLINE GAMBLING CASE (Update)
Former Fraternal Order of Police president enters guilty plea.
In what is probably the last in a series of convictions arising from the multi-state Allied Veterans of America online gambling bust , the former president of the Florida branch of the Fraternal Order of Police entered a guilty plea for running an illegal lottery (felony), illegally structuring financial transactions (felony) and illegal possession of a slot machine (misdemeanor).
Nelson Cuba, a former member of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and local president of the FOP, was originally indicted on a hundred diverse criminal counts in connection with his involvement in the AVA online gambling scheme.
He was sentenced to a year of house arrest, followed by four years probation, having made a $30,000 payment to a homeless veterans charity in the Orlando area and a pledge to pay an extral $250 a month for the duration of his house arrest and probation.
Cuba additionally surrendered his law enforcement certification, and can never be a police officer again.
Prosecutors claimed that Cuba and Robbie Freitas, the former vice president of the FOP, deposited $576,100 into an FOP Foundation account between Sept. 4, 2009 and Dec. 30, 2011, followed by $571,400 in withdrawals, made in weekly instalments below $10,000.
Last November, Cuba and the FOP Foundation surrendered funds in four bank accounts to the state of Florida.
The AVA was a $300 million operation, and its dismantling in 2013 resulted in 57 arrests, brought a six-year prison sentence for Jacksonville attorney and alleged ringleader Kelly Mathis and led to the resignation of former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll .
Mathis went to trial and was convicted, but has appealed.