Jul.09, 2010

Illegal gambling and money laundering. Sounds like a plot to a movie you've probably seen. But, according to a search warrant obtained by CBS 6 it was happening inside of a one man's Henrico County home.

The alleged illegal gambling was all done on a website. While the search warrant doesn't reveal the name of that site, it does detail one Henrico man's alleged involvement. It claims Khen Han Tran took illegal bets on college and professional sports such as football and basketball.

Tran lives on Walton Farms Drive just across the street from Jamil Ramadan. He tells us "our neighborhood is quiet and it's the best neighborhood. I've lived here for thirty five years." So, seeing officers swarm his neighbor's home recently was something completely out of the norm and it sparked Ramadan's curiosity.

According to the search warrant, Tran is being investigated for money laundering and running an illegal sports gambling operation on line. It says during a six month period, undercover Fairfax County detectives placed more than one hundred bets on Tran's alleged online gambling site.

A confidential informant met up with Tran on a weekly basis to recover monies owed to him or to pay monies owed to Tran as a result of the illegal bets.

The court document also details how Fairfax detectives spent months building a case against Tran. Virginia State Police also joined in. Ramadan and another neighbor Sam Padrone tell CBS 6 they witnessed several officers swarm Tran's home more than a month ago.

Padrone says " A ton of people were in the yard. Police from Henrico. I didn't realize there were state police there too, but there were so many there, more police than I've seen in this neighborhood in thirty years."

Ramadan watched officers confiscate several items. Ones described in the warrant as several computers, cassettes, playing cards and an undisclosed amount of money. Neighbors say they never would have guessed it.

Says Padrone, "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but given the world we live in today it's hard to say that. We just don't expect it. You see your neighbors and you wave at them. You just think they're good people."

CBS 6 went to Tran's home for a comment. He declined an interview. Fairfax police also declined to speak about the warrant obtained by CBS 6, saying it's an ongoing investigation.

You can count on CBS 6 to continue to follow this story. We'll update you as new details become available.