News
November 5, 2008
Putnam poker players robbed at gunpoint charged with gambling

WINFIELD -- The six poker players who were robbed at gunpoint last year in Putnam County have been charged with illegal gambling.

Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Sorsaia said the men have been charged in the county's magistrate's court with misdemeanor illegal gambling.

The men face $5 to $300 in fines. If they are caught taking part in another illegal game, they will face 10 to 30 days of jail time. 

The county filed the charges Oct. 29. 

In November 2007, Jacqueline Dennis and Kimberly Steinbrecher allegedly robbed the men taking part in a high-stakes poker game in a storage building behind a bar on W.Va. 34 near Hurricane.

The women made off with $27,000 in cash.

In October, Dennis was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to armed robbery.

Steinbrecher has not been indicted on charges related to the robbery.

"That investigation and prosecution is an ongoing process," Sorsaia said.

Sorsaia said the county prosecutor's office moved forward with charging the men because it could not ignore the magnitude of money involved in the game.

"It wasn't a family game sitting around the table on a Sunday," he said.

The game was a violation of the law, he said.

"We just couldn't ignore that, " he said.

 Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 348-5113.

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Posted By: WVU77 (2:10pm 11-05-2008)
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Nice. The men who get robbed at gunpoint call the police for help, instead of taking the matter into their own hands, and then end up being charged with a crime themselves. Really sends a message doesn't it? I guess vigilante justice in Putnam County will make a come back.

Posted By: MUPI27 (1:23pm 11-05-2008)
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The state is just mad that they didn't get their cut of the action.

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