Riverbend Tavern owners Larry Meenachan and John Messer pleaded not guilty in Youngstown Municipal Court Friday to charges of operating a gambling house, gambling and possession of criminal tools.
Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force agents raided the bar Thursday afternoon, and found Tic-Tac-Fruit gaming machines and pay-out slips.
"We obtained records from the bar's office that showed how much money was going through those machines, and what cut the bar was taking, and there were tens of thousands of dollars that were going through those machines," said Youngstown City Prosecutor Jay Macejko.
Macejko said the gambling machines were discovered while the bar was already under investigation for suspected drug trafficking. Agents made a series of 13 controlled drug buys inside the bar from July 2009 until last week.
"Typically the undercover agents were buying powder cocaine, additionally toward the end of the investigation they were buying pills, Vicodin and Oxycontin," Macejko said.
Macejko said the tavern was one of four sites agents hit Thursday, and all were linked to the same drug trafficking operation. A handful of bar patrons were also arrested on drug charges.
Police were back to search scrap cars on the property Friday afternoon. But the bar is boarded up, and Messer and Meenachan have been ordered to stay away from the "Poor Man's Country Club."
"The business will be boarded up for at least a minimum of 10 to 14 days, possibly for up to one year," said Macejko.
A nuisance abatement hearing is set for later this month. Meenachan and Messer are awaiting their pretrials.
