Dozens of people were detained in Pomona outside of a business that police say was an illegal casino masked as a beauty salon. Christian Cazares reports for the NBC4 News on April 4, 2024.
Dozens of people were detained in Pomona Wednesday morning after police raided a business operating as an illegal casino.
Pomona police and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations served warrants at two locations – one on Holt Avenue and the other on Mission Boulevard. Witnesses captured it all on camera, including several people who were detained.
“There was a lot of officers around 10 to 15 people. I thought it was an accident,” said Roberta Vasquez, who is a regular shopper at the plaza.
Pomona police say officers served a search warrant at the beauty salon on Mission and Towne Avenue for an illegal casino operation. Many workers around the business said they sensed something wasn’t right and whatever was happening behind the business' doors raised many questions.
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“It was always those people that you could tell they don’t have good intentions and always sneaky text and they would do it in front of the door and the same person would open all the time. It was very suspicious,” said Yathana Martinez, who works in the area.
Officers were seen going inside with ladders and other tools. A restaurant worker from the business next door, who only to be identified by her first name, Juliana, said someone attempted to escape by crawling through the ceiling.
“You would never expect it. It used to be an actual hair extension place," said Martinez. "Now when you see they still have that as a cover-up with suspicious activity it’s very worrying."
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Currently, the business has been red-tagged by police.
