GREENFIELD — A county judge has decided to throw out some evidence obtained by investigators in the gambling case against Bret A. Wells, ruling they illegally searched his cellphone as they worked to link the New Palestine man to a large bookmaking operation.
According to court documents, Hancock County Circuit Court Judge Scott Sirk granted a motion last week to suppress the cellphone evidence. That means any information obtained from the search of Wells’ cellphone will be inadmissible in court. The judge, however, denied a motion by Wells to suppress evidence obtained in searches of Wells’ residence, vehicle and his business.
Wells, 48, 7000 block of Old Colony Drive, is facing six charges, including a Level 5 felony count for corrupt business influence relating to the enterprise. According to an affidavit prepared by investigators from the Indiana Gaming Commission, the operation netted Wells more than $1.8 million over a period of about three years before it was shut down in 2019.
The challenge to the evidence-gathering hinged on a search warrant executed by investigators in the spring of 2019. Its wording, Wells’ attorney, James H. Voyles, argued, precluded a search of Wells’ pickup because the truck was not at the address listed in the warrant when it was searched. That meant any evidence obtained from the pickup — including information on Wells’ cellphone, which was in the truck and which allegedly contained text conversations with gambling clients — should be thrown out, Voyles argued.
Chief deputy prosecutor Aimee Herring argued the search was nevertheless proper because the truck is mentioned in the warrant for Wells’ shop, which also was searched.
After learning of the court’s decision, Herring noted the ruling will impact the evidence available to present to a jury if the case proceeds to trial.
“This does not necessarily mean that the state is precluded from proceeding with prosecution,” Herring said. “We respect the court’s decision and will review the case in light of this decision to determine what the appropriate course of action is from here.”
The case was set to go to trial July 20, but following the decision by Sirk, the jury trial has been pushed back to Nov. 30.
When investigators stopped Wells and located the phone in his truck, it was eight miles away from the specific address mentioned in the search warrant, Voyles argued in his motion to suppress the evidence. The warrant was for 20 N. Depot St., New Palestine, which is the location of Wells’ business. Wells was stopped at a gas station on Brookville Road in Marion County on the day of the search, May 29, 2019, the document states.
“The search of Wells’ truck and subsequent cellular phone were unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment…” the motion stated.
The motion said while investigators presumably had probable cause to obtain a search warrant on Wells’ residence, business and safety deposit boxes, they did not obtain a separate search warrant for his truck, suggesting seizure of the phone was off limits.
The gaming commission began investigating Wells in July 2018 for alleged gambling-related offenses.
Investigators described an operation that in total made more than 176,000 betting transactions starting in January 2016. The case is based in part on information from a former business partner and surveillance by gaming commission investigators.
The former business partner, who was not identified in court documents, saw Wells counting large sums of cash earned from his gambling operation, an affidavit said. The former business partner also said he went with Wells to pick up money and that Wells handled the gambling via two websites. Text messages obtained from Wells’ phone showed he directed bettors to those sites and provided passwords so they could access them, according to the affidavit. The text messages also detailed the network of bettors he worked with.
The investigation led to search warrants for the Wells home, his shop and safety deposit boxes. While there was no separate search warrant for the truck, the vehicle is referenced within the search warrant for the shop, according to records.
The Wells case came to light shortly before the laws involving sports gambling changed in the state. Indiana lawmakers approved a wide-ranging gambling bill in April 2019 that was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb in May 2019. The new law legalized sports wagering after six other states moved quickly following a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing it nationwide.
