A North Miami woman has landed herself behind bars for allegedly conducting a black-market numbers game out of a convenience store. Yeimy Yiceth Fuentes-Zavala, 32, is accused of running an illicit gambling operation, complete with its own makeshift booth inside M&J Plus LLC, as reported by Local 10.
The gambling den came to a screeching halt when an undercover cop managed to purportedly slip in and place a $20 bet, promptly receiving two printed lottery tickets from the woman allegedly orchestrating this whole show. These tickets were tied to PM drawings in New York and Florida - states where the official lotteries run legally and transparently. This clandestine operation allowed customers to also supposedly bet on sporting events, venturing boldly into the territory of bookmaking.
Police descended on the convenience store earlier this week, executing a search warrant that uncovered a cache of illegal lottery paraphernalia. Inside Fuentes-Zavala's booth, officers found an array of contraband including illicit lottery tickets, sports betting slips, a computer used to run the underground lottery program, ticket printers, and payout menus, alongside an undisclosed amount of cash, as detailed by NBC Miami.
Despite her quick arrest and the evidence seized, Fuentes-Zavala invoked her right not to speak to detectives. Now, she's swapped selling dubious tickets for a different kind of ticket - a booking at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. As of now, attorney details for Fuentes-Zavala aren't available.
