Billy Ray Peadon, a member of the Pitt County School Board, has pleaded guilty to running an illegal video poker game ring.
Peadon must now pay more than $8,000 in fines and restitution, and will spend 30 months under unsupervised probation.
Peadon had no criminal history before this offence, and has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of operating illegal gambling machines. He claims that he did not realise he was breaking the law. His attorney described him as a highly respected man, who simply made a mistake, asking: “What has he done for community service? What has he done for society?”
Robert Daugherty, Pitt County ABC Investigator, said: “He’s got a clean criminal record. This is a gentleman that does not have a history as far as courts go, and I think for the first time I think it’s a fair sentence.”
Some parents feel that the sentence was merely a slap on the wrist, and did not go far enough. Cay Arnold said: “I don’t think there should be any exceptions made for somebody just because they’re well known.”
Newly elected Putt County School Board member Mary Williams said that since Peaden pleaded guilty, he should be willing to resign. The final decision, however, will be left up to Peaden. The school system says that since Peadon was not convicted of a felony, they cannot remove him from the board.
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