First Circuit Deputy Solicitor Don Sorenson was arrested and charged with one count of unlawful games and betting Friday night following a 10-month undercover investigation into an organized gambling operation by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.
"This is a magistrate level offense. I do not have a court date and time yet," said John Clark, public information officer for the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, on Saturday.
In a press release, Clark stated that search warrants were served at three locations in Charleston County, Hanahan and Daniel Island.
The Charleston County Metro Major Case Unit and Charleston City Police along with the North Charleston and Hanahan police departments raided a house on Friday night at 6916 Tanner Hall Blvd. in Hanahan. The house had been set up as a Las Vegas-style casino, Clark said.
"There were approximately 26 people in the residence last (Friday) night and they were charged by Hanahan police with unlawful games and betting. Twelve of the 26 had outstanding warrants through the Charleston County Sheriff's Office for unlawful games and betting," Clark said in the release.
The arrests and search warrants were the culmination of a 10-month undercover investigation that has ide.jpgied 65 people in the organization. Officers seized more than $40,000 in cash along with a significant amount of gambling paraphernalia.
Along with Sorenson, the following were among the individuals included in the Hanahan arrest: Qui Ho; Thanh Viet Do; Hussein M. Abukhdeir; Quang Tuyen Ho; Bart Joseph Wolfe; Jose Luis Benitez; Hosain Asay Abou; Jordan Michelle Eads; Thomas William Vieth; Robert Donald Wallens; Angelo Convertino; Daniel Frances Llaccera and Adam Nicholas King.
On Saturday, Tiffani Boone of Summerville was also arrested and charged with two counts of unlawful games and betting, Clark said. Additional arrests are pending.
The following locations were ide.jpgied in the investigation as being set up in the casino-style operation for gambling: 7634 Southrail Road, North Charleston; 2895 Spa Road, North Charleston; 2694 Lake Park Drive, North Charleston (second floor of Acclaimed Mortgage and Financial Group) and 1145 Rivershore Road, Beresford Creek Subdivision in Daniel Island.
First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said that Sorenson tendered his resignation Saturday and "I have decided to suspend him without pay so I can assess the situation further and make a decision in the very near future."
Pascoe said that he is disappointed and "I want time to make a good decision and not a rash decision."
He said Sorenson has been a prosecutor for 13 years and has worked with the First Circuit Solicitor under Pascoe for the past three years.
Pascoe said he believes Sorenson has been one the most successful prosecutors of violent crime in the state.
The solicitor added, "He obviously exercised poor judgment, and I'm going to have to make a decision in the near future."
T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.