Three take plea deals in Oakland gambling shack beatdown

Posted by Admin December 13, 2024 Gambling

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OAKLAND — Three men have accepted plea deals in the 2022 attack of a gambling den patron who was allegedly stripped nude and beaten to a pulp inside the illicit casino.

Christopher Darby, 36, pleaded no contest to an assault charge for a four-year prison term, while co-defendants Terrance Hadnot, 24, and Wai Hoang, 33, both received two-year prison sentences with similar pleas. In exchange for their pleas, prosecutors dismissed torture charges against the trio, court records show.

Prosecutors also dismissed the case against a fourth defendant, 49-year-old Jenevieve Ramirez, who had been charged with being an accessory. Hadnot and Hoang have been allowed to complete their prison terms on house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet, court records show.

The three were charged with allegedly beating and stripping down a patron inside an illegal gambling den on 17th Avenue in Oakland. Police said the 2022 attack lasted about six minutes, and that the victim suffered a “large amount” of blood loss and went unconscious.

The plea deals were reached just a few days after an Oakland police surveillance team witnessed Hoang at the 17th Avenue residence, which is still allegedly being used as an illegal gambling shack. Hoang listed the property as his residence in June 2018, and was previously arrested there on suspicion of possessing 75 pounds of marijuana, court records show.

The same residence has been raided in gambling investigations several times, including twice this year — in February, and again in late September, weeks after Hoang was allegedly spotted there. During the most recent raid, police say they seized firearms, 11 digital slot machines, $550 in cash and Hoang’s ID card. They also found a FasTrak receipt in the name of a man named Tan Duong, a 48-year-old Oakland resident who has been detained in other gambling investigations around Oakland, court records show.

Despite Duong’s name coming up repeatedly in illegal gambling investigation, he has not been criminally charged. In 2022, he was hit with two felony cases — one alleging illegal gun possession, and another accusing him of joining a retail theft ring — but both cases were dismissed in 2023. Alameda County prosecutors threw out the gun case, and the theft case was dismissed after the state Attorney General’s Office failed to show up for a court hearing, records show.

Four months after both cases were dismissed, Duong was arrested during a raid on the 17th Avenue suspected gambling den, where an unregistered pistol and a stolen rifle were also seized, court records show.

Originally Published: December 13, 2024 at 12:01 PM PST