BY TOM SOMACH

A New Jersey probation officer has pleaded guilty to running an illegal poker gambling operation in Gloucester County, N.J.

According to media reports out of New Jersey, Gordon Ernst, Jr., 33, of Mount Laurel Township, N.J., pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to the charge and was released on a $25,000 bond, pending sentencing.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2008.

Ernst admitted that between March of 2006 and June of 2007 he was involved in running an illegal gambling operation, namely a poker enterprise, that operated in New Jersey and elsewhere, the media reports said.

Ernst also said he conducted, financed, managed, supervised, directed or owned all or a part of that gambling business, which included at least five individuals, including himself, the media reports said.

On June 8, law enforcement authorities executed a search warrant on the gambling parlor in Westville, N.J., and seized items used to support the gambling operation, the media reports said.

The charge of conducting an illegal gambling business in the State of New Jersey carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross profits of the criminal enterprise.

The State of New Jersey is especially uptight about illegal gambling, especially poker, as it seeks to protect the profits of the state’s legal casinos in Atlantic City.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)