HUNTINGTON BEACH : 4 in Lodge Charged in Gambling Case

Three officers and a bartender in the Moose lodge here were charged with misdemeanor gambling offenses Tuesday.

James Martin McAndrew, secretary of the Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge No. 1832, and Ronald Ray Bixler, a former governor of the lodge, were each charged with six misdemeanor counts of bookmaking and related gambling offenses, according to court records filed in Westminster by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Michael Schloub, the present governor of the lodge, was charged with three misdemeanors, including setting up a lottery. Police reports allege that Schloub sold an undercover detective a $100 ticket for a Super Bowl lottery and accepted a $30 down payment from the detective in March.

Also charged with four misdemeanor offenses was Betty Lou Edmondson, a bartender who is suspected of paying customers who hit the jackpot playing video poker, police reports show.

McAndrew said he was not aware that he had been charged, and referred a request for comment to his attorney, who was unavailable Tuesday evening. Schloub, reached at the Moose lodge, declined comment. Bixler and Edmondson could not be reached.

The charges are the result of a two-year undercover investigation by city police. Officers raided the lodge on Sept. 7 and seized slot machines, poker machines, bookmaking documents, lottery records and $7,000 in cash.