{"id":252540,"date":"2023-01-11T10:50:57","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T16:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=252540"},"modified":"2023-01-11T12:29:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T18:29:02","slug":"new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/","title":{"rendered":"New York State Cop Tipped Off Illegal Sport Betting Ring, Feds Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former New York State Police (NYSP) sergeant is federal facing corruption and obstruction charges after he allegedly tipped off an illegal bookmaking operation that was getting heat from his department.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_252685\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-252685\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-252685 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1.jpg\" alt=\"Thomas Loewke\" width=\"1200\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1-858x443.jpg 858w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1-430x222.jpg 430w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-252685\"class=\"text-description\">New York State police Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke (above), now retired, passed information to his bookie that he was facing an investigation, prosecutors claim. (Image: Queensbury.net)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke is accused of blabbing to members of the Rochester-based gambling ring, which managed its operations via the sports700.com website, that they were under investigation in December 2020. Loewke retired from the NYSP in October 2021, <em>The Buffalo News<\/em> has learned.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>Around that time, an undercover officer posing as a bettor made contact with the group and began gathering evidence. Meanwhile, federal agents and NYSP detectives were also intercepting syndicate members\u2019 calls and text messages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The ring \u201cconducted, financed, managed, supervised, directed and owned an illegal gambling business\u201d that generated profits of more than $10 million from over 1,700 bettors from 2016 to 2021. That\u2019s according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Western District of New York.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Calls Intercepted <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Loewke learned of the investigation from an unnamed state trooper who entered the office of an NYSP Senior Investigator to perform computer maintenance.<\/p>\n<p>The trooper saw an affidavit sitting on the detective\u2019s desk that had the name of the group\u2019s ringleader in plain view at the top of the document, according to court papers.<\/p>\n<p>On January 2, investigators intercepted a call between the ringleader, referred to in court documents as TARGET 1, and another member of the group, known as TARGET 2.<\/p>\n<p>TARGET 1 told TARGET 2 that he had been approached by someone he knew from NYSP at his brother\u2019s pizza bar, who told him he was under investigation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TARGET 1 complained that the investigation was a \u201c[expletive] waste of time\u201d because there were \u201chardly any sports on\u201d because of the pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Toward the end of the conversation, TARGET 1 let slip his informant was someone known as \u201cTJ,\u201d which are Loewke\u2019s first two initials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gotta lay extra low, and I\u2019m gonna be deliberate on the real phone talking about how legitimate I am\u2026\u201d TARGET 1 concluded.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Loewke\u2019s \u2018Gambling Problem\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Investigators later discovered that several phone calls took place between the trooper and Loewke shortly after toll analysis from his cell phone showed he entered the detective\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The trooper admitted to investigators that he shared the information with Loewke. He claimed this was because he \u201cknew Loewke had a gambling problem and was warning him against gambling with TARGET 1.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Loewke was due to make an appearance in a federal court in Rochester Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former New York State Police (NYSP) sergeant is federal facing corruption and obstruction charges after he allegedly tipped off an illegal bookmaking operation that was getting heat from his department. Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke is accused of blabbing to members of the Rochester-based gambling ring, which managed its operations via the sports700.com website, that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":252685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New York State Cop Tipped Off Illegal Sport Betting Ring, Feds Say<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke tipped off a Rochester, New York bookmaking ring it was under investigation by federal agents and state police.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York State Cop Tipped Off Illegal Sport Betting Ring, Feds Say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sgt. Thomas J. Loewke tipped off a Rochester, New York bookmaking ring it was under investigation by federal agents and state police.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T16:50:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T18:29:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/\",\"name\":\"New York State Cop Tipped Off Illegal Sport Betting Ring, Feds Say\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/cops-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-11T16:50:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-11T18:29:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Sgt. 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(Image: Queensbury.net)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-state-cop-tipped-off-illegal-sport-betting-ring-feds-say\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New York State Cop Tipped Off Illegal Sport Betting Ring, Feds Say"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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