Press Release  Melrose Man Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to Jail in Connection with Large-Scale Illegal Gambling Operation

BOSTON — A Melrose man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to jail in connection with running a large-scale illegal sports betting operation, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Lonnie Hillson, age 59, pleaded guilty Thursday in Middlesex Superior Court to the charges of Organizing and Promoting Gambling, Registration of Bets, Use of the Phone for Gambling, Conspiracy to Register Bets, and Attempted Extortion (1 count each). Following the plea, Judge Patrick Haggan sentenced Hillson to serve one year in the House of Correction with three years of probation running concurrent with the committed sentence.

“This defendant ran an illegal and predatory criminal enterprise that pushed bettors into debt and tried to extort an undercover officer for money,” AG Healey said. “We are grateful to our partners in law enforcement for their assistance in bringing this defendant to justice and shutting down this operation.” 

Hillson was indicted on the charges in December 2018 following an extensive investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Special Service Section and the AG’s Gaming Enforcement Division into organized crime related to illegal gambling, money laundering. Authorities also charged ten other individuals as part of the operation including Hillson’s father and his mother.

“The target of this investigation ran a venture that violated numerous laws and profited by driving gamblers further into debt, exacerbating their destructive behavior,” Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said. “I thank Attorney General Healey for her oversight of this effort and commend the work of several of our units that historically have interdicted predatory gambling enterprises, our statewide Special Services Section, the Gaming Enforcement Unit within the Attorney General’s State Police Detective Unit, and our Technical Services Unit. I am grateful to those Troopers and all the other partner units and agencies for their contributions to this successful case.”

The Hillsons were operating the illegal gambling operation out of their Melrose homes. They took illegal bets exclusively over the phone, while other individuals assisted them in attempting to extort money from an undercover Massachusetts State Police Trooper who had infiltrated the illegal gambling organization.

The indictments followed the execution of a search warrant at more than eight residences, two businesses, five vehicles and almost a dozen bank accounts, where investigators recovered betting slips, gaming ledgers, paperwork related to illegal gaming, parlay cards and tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

AG Healey’s Gaming Enforcement Division has a dedicated group of prosecutors and investigators who enforce the state’s Expanded Gaming Act of 2011 and investigate and prosecute illegal activity such as organized crime, money laundering, gaming-related financial crime, and corruption.

The case was prosecuted by Thomas Caldwell, Chief of AG Healey’s Gaming Enforcement Division. The case was investigated by the Massachusetts State Police Special Service Section with assistance from the AG’s State Police Detective Unit, the Middlesex County State Police Detective Unit, the State Police Technical Services Unit, the Massachusetts State Police Troop A Community Action Team, Boston Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

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