SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio Police Department dispatcher has been arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime, a state jail felony offense.
The charge against Annabel Gonzalez is in connection with an Aug. 10 raid on a Southwest Side business where 100 eight-liners were confiscated and more than two dozen people suspected of gambling were issued citations.
Related: 100 8-liners confiscated in Southwest Side raid, police say
Gonzalez has been a civilian employee of the SAPD for 16 years, according to a department spokesperson.
She will be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
An arrest warrant released Thursday names at least six women who are implicated in the gambling ring.
One of them, 54-year-old Norma Gonzalez, was arrested Wednesday night on a felony charge of gambling-organized crime, according to Bexar County District Clerk records.
The four other suspects have not been formally charged.
Six month investigation
The warrant for Annabel Gonzalez's arrest indicates the raid came after a six-month investigation from SAPD's Vice Unit.
An undercover SAPD detective first visited the operation in early March and wrote that he saw approximately 30 gambling machines inside.
The detective then provided an undercover ID and paid $20 in order to get a key card that would let him into the building, but he left without playing the games, the warrant states.
In July, the detective returned to the building in an undercover capacity and despite his key card still not working, was allowed to play the games while Norma Gonzalez looked up his information, according to the warrant.
In August, the detective again returned to the location and not only saw other people win silver packets and exchange them for cash, but himself won silver packets then cashed them out and was given $20, the warrant states.
SAPD officers then raided the building later that day.