Tuesday, September 19, 2006

LaFollette Mayor Clifford Jennings received six months of unsupervised
probation and a $4,500 fine Monday for charges in an illegal gambling case.
Jennings was originally charged with aggravated gambling promotion, a
felony. But in July the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor when he
pleaded no contest in a deal with prosecutors. Three other people charged in
the case entered no contest pleas in court Monday. One of those is Alan
Baird, the owner of a business that had illegal poker machines. The charges
stem from a 6 News investigation in November 2005 and subsequent bust of
illegal video poker parlors in Campbell County by the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation. In the raid, TBI agents confiscated 14 gambling machines and
several thousand dollars in cash.
A 6 News undercover camera showed Mayor Jennings inside an illegal video
gambling operation. It was located in a building he owns. Agents raided that
gambling parlor and three others in LaFollette. Jennings has been mayor of
LaFollette since the early 1980s, with the exception of one term. Since his
charges were reduced to a misdemeanor, Jennings can remain in office.