$400,000 Monthly in Wagering : 5 Arrested in Crackdown on Sporting-Event Betting

Law enforcement officials say they cracked a sports betting ring that had been handling an estimated $400,000 a month in bets when they arrested five men and women Sunday in raids in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

The arrests on bookmaking charges resulted from a three-month investigation into the ring, which operated by taking bets over the telephone and relying on a telephone call-forwarding system, officials said.

The raids took place at 9 a.m. at five unspecified locations in San Diego and Los Angeles counties. Police said the evidence seized indicated that the alleged ring handled about $400,000 a month in wagers. Police also seized $15,000 in cash.

Arrested in the raids were John L. Adams, 67, and Nancy Daley, 49, both of Encinitas; Kevin Harkins, 21, and Susan Hayashi, 28, both of San Diego, and Georgiana Horvath, 68, of Los Angeles, police said.

Jail officials said Adams, Daley, Harkins and Hayashi remained in the San Diego County Jail on Sunday night on a variety of bookmaking charges. Horvath had been released from the Los Angeles County Jail after posting bail, a jail official said.

The investigation, which began in West Los Angeles and spread to San Diego County, is being conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the San Diego and Los Angeles police departments.

Officials from the San Diego departments said the alleged activities constituted “major bookmaking operations.” They said the group accepted bets on horse racing and other sporting events. However, they would not say how many bettors they believed were involved.

Authorities said the investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected.