Governor Riley's Statement On Greentrack Raid

The Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling on Tuesday continued enforcement actions as part of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Greene County District Attorney.  In that lawsuit, Greene County District Attorney Gregory Griggers and then-Sheriff Ronald Smith stated their belief that illegal gambling was occurring at Greenetrack, and the District Attorney filed a petition with the circuit court to seize all of the illegal slot machines at Greenetrack.

On June 4, Circuit Court Judge Eddie Hardaway, Jr. in Greene County entered an order that all the machines at Greenetrack had been seized, and the order allowed the State to inspect or remove the machines at any point for inspection.  The order stated, however, that law enforcement operations could not interfere with Greenetrack’s business.  When representatives of the Task Force went to Greenetrack on June 18 to inspect the machines, Judge Hardaway -- contrary to his order on June 4 -- entered a new order preventing law enforcement from carrying out the inspection he earlier allowed.  On Monday, the Supreme Court of Alabama vacated the orders entered by Judge Hardaway that were preventing law enforcement officials from carrying out law enforcement operations at Greenetrack.

On Tuesday morning, a small number of representatives of the Department of Public Safety and the Alcohol Beverage Control Board went to Greenetrack to continue the law enforcement operations that had been interrupted on June 18.  The Task Force took control of all the machines at the facility and immediately began to inspect and inventory them.  The machines may be removed to a secure facility in coming days.

“Today’s actions are being undertaken by the Task Force in pursuit of the forfeiture proceedings begun by the Greene County District Attorney and the orders of the Governor,” said Task Force Commander John Tyson, Jr.  “Whenever a forfeiture action is initiated, the State has to have control over the machines at issue.  All we did today was to complete what the local District Attorney and former Sheriff started in early June.

“The Governor directed me to assume representation of the State in the case to ensure that the State’s arguments are presented fully and quickly,” said Tyson. Tyson was not at Greenetrack on Tuesday morning.

The Task Force’s actions this morning were led by Col. Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Department of Public Safety.  “The Task Force actions taken this morning involved 10 uniformed state troopers,” said Col. Murphy. “All of our actions are consistent with Judge Hardaway’s order and those of the Alabama Supreme Court.”

This statement was issued by the Governor's office and unedited.