Authorities in South Carolina announced last week that they have arrested 65 people and charged them with gambling offenses, after busting an illegal poker ring.

Among those arrested: a teacher, a police officer and a county prosecutor!

According to media reports, 28 arrests came on April 4, when law enforcement authorities raided a private home in suburban Charleston, South Carolina, USA, owned by Martin and Dawn Reyes, broke up a poker operation featuring multiple tables, confiscated about $40,000 in cash and busted 27 people.

Four other, smaller locations that were part of the ring were also raided the same night, with an additional person getting arrested, media reports said.

In the following days, arrest warrants were issued for over 130 others linked to the operation, and so far 38 of them have been brought in, the reports said.=A0=A0=A0

“This isn’t boys’ poker night out,” Charleston County Sheriff John Clark said. “This isn’t just friends getting together and playing poker for a quarter or a dollar. This was an organized poker operation in which they had people in positions who were acting as employees. They were being paid to do their jobs.”

Clark said that after a 10-month undercover investigation, law enforcement authorities identified five locations in Charleston County where groups of people met on specified nights to play poker.

It was an efficient operation that ran like a business, he said.

“They had specific nights that they gambled,” Clark said. “The bosses determined where the games were being held and determined the buy-in. The buy-in was anywhere from $300 to $1,000 per game. The person who sponsored the event was paid a specific amount each time a hand was played.”

Among those arrested was First Circuit Deputy Solicitor Don Sorenson, who is a prosecutor for three South Carolina counties, media reports said.

The day after his arrest, Sorenson turned in his resignation, but so far his boss, Solicitor David Pascoe, is not accepting the resignation, instead suspending Sorenson without pay until the matter is resolved legally, the reports said.

Sorenson has been a prosecutor in South Carolina for 13 years, the last three as deputy solicitor, the reports said.

“I’m very disappointed,” Pascoe said. “This is a black eye on us.”

Also arrested were a local teacher and an off-duty police officer, media reports said.

Poker is illegal in South Carolina under a 200-year-old state law that prohibits dice and card games.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.) =A0=A0