Woman testifies against her grandmother

Local News

September 14, 2006

Kelly Foreman The Richmond Register Thu Sep 14, 2006, 08:25 AM EDT

LEXINGTON — The granddaughter of a Waco woman on trial for bingo fraud and tax evasion testified Wednesday she could not remember anything about Jackpot Charity Bingo operations, but the prosecution played a tape that stated the opposite.

Tara Tipton, the 23-year-old granddaughter of Rita Tipton, repeatedly told Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Taylor she could not recall any specific information that arose from a 2001 interview with the Kentucky Office of Charitable Gaming. Reading from interview notes taken by OCG Investigator Nicole Creech, Taylor asked Tara Tipton about specific information she had revealed about her grandmother’s alleged illegal activities.

“What I was telling was stuff I had heard from other people,” Tara Tipton told the jury. “I don’t necessarily know if it was 100 percent true.”

At the time of the interview, Tara and Rita Tipton were reportedly “on the outs” with each other and Tara Tipton said she reported the information to the OCG as a way to get back at her grandmother.

“Your grandmother had been supporting you and putting a lot of money in your hands, had she not?” Taylor asked.

Tara Tipton agreed.

“Something happened. She cut off the money and you were mad,” Taylor said.

According to Taylor, Tara Tipton reportedly revealed during the interview a plethora of information about illegal activities she had learned both first-hand and from other parties. Tara Tipton reportedly told Creech her grandmother would profit $5,000 to $10,000 each night from unreported pull-tab game sales. She reported her grandmother had several bank accounts in Tara Tipton’s name in Berea and Paint Lick banks. She also told the OCG her grandmother had money hidden both in her sisters’ houses and a safe buried in a hole in her garage covered by an oriental rug.

“Since then I learned that wasn’t true,” Tara Tipton said. “At that point, she didn’t even have a rug in her garage.”

Taylor asked Tara Tipton if she was afraid of her grandmother, to which she replied she was not. According to Creech’s notes from the interview, Tara Tipton told Creech she was concerned about the well-being of her now 7-year-old son if her grandmother found out she had talked to the OCG.

“Do you recall telling (Creech) if your grandmother wanted someone dead, all she would have to do is pay someone $100 or $150 and she’d have someone take care of it?”

“No,” Tara Tipton said. “I don’t have any recollection of saying that.”

Tara Tipton wasn’t the only one reportedly at odds with Rita Tipton after the OCG began its investigation. Joe Etta Byrd, a personal friend of Rita Tipton’s, testified Wednesday that Rita Tipton was angry when she confronted Byrd about talking to the OCG.

“She was more upset with Bill (Henry) than she was with me,” Byrd told the jury. “She just told me she would have died and went to hell before she would have ratted on him.”

Henry is the deceased brother of Rita Tipton, Byrd testified. Byrd and Henry were best friends, she said, until he was killed in a car crash in 2005. After the car crash, Henry was hospitalized for five days, Byrd said. When he died, Rita Tipton reportedly went to Byrd’s house to tell her the news.

“She said, ‘Joe Etta, there were only three people who could testify against me -- my granddaughter, Bill and you.’” Byrd testified. “At least now he can’t testify against me."

Before his death, Byrd said Rita Tipton purchased a van for Henry for the sole purpose of driving to Ohio to purchase illegal pull-tabs. Byrd testified Henry would purchase six to eight large cases of unrecorded pull-tabs that were then delivered to Rita Tipton, who paid him $200 per trip.

The following witnesses for the prosecution also testified Wednesday:

• Selena King, former daughter-in-law of Rita Tipton and mother of Tara Tipton. King testified it was not uncommon for her daughter to have $500 to $1,000 in cash in her wallet at the age of 11. King said the money was given to Tara Tipton by her grandmother, Rita Tipton, even after she told Rita Tipton she thought it was inappropriate for such a young child to have that amount of money in her possession.

King also told the jury about several trips she participated in where Rita Tipton footed the bill. She testified Rita Tipton paid her $100 in cash two or three times a month when she worked at the bingo hall.

• Bill Goosey, former chairperson for Waco Volunteer Fire Department and bingo volunteer. Goosey testified he had absolutely no knowledge of how much money the fire department made from bingo, despite his position as chairperson. He also said he had no knowledge of illegal pull-tabs and was never paid for his time spent working up to four nights a week at the bingo hall.

Several witnesses, including two OCG undercover inspectors, testified they witnessed Goosey make haste to hide illegal pull-tabs when he saw an OCG inspector come in the building. Goosey said the witnesses were lying.

• June Arvin, Rita Tipton's and defendant Gloria Williams’ sister. Arvin also testified she worked several nights at the bingo hall without payment “out of the goodness of her heart.” Arvin said the only involvement Rita Tipton had in the bingo hall was cleaning up after sessions and the occasional card game when the facility was closed.

Arvin was also a chairperson for the Waco Volunteer Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary, but claimed she had no knowledge of the paper work, cash exchanges, illegal pull-tabs or any of her sisters’ business activities.

Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.

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