Osceola sheriff case: Kissimmee casino raid leads to $1.1M seized by authorities. (Cristóbal Reyes, Orlando Sentinel, October 26, 2025)

The long arm of the law reached out for the Osceola County Sheriff this month, just as it reached out for Anderson County, Tennessee Sheriff DENNIS OWEN TROTTER in 1984.  Our Appalachian Observer newspaper was threatened and sued by TROTTER and his co-felons.  From Orlando Sentinel: 

Osceola sheriff case: Kissimmee casino raid leads to $1.1M seized by authorities

The site of the former Red Star Restaurant & Hookah Bar located at 4561 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee, Friday, June 6, 2025. The Red Star restaurant —currently under renovation to become a new Mexican-Indian restaurant and previously called the Eclipse Social Club and the Fusion Social Club— was reportedly where Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez ran an illegal gambling business with four co-defendants. Lopez was arrested Thursday and charged with racketeering and conspiracy. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

By CRISTÓBAL REYES | creyes-rios@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: June 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM EDT

Prosecutors and the Florida Gaming Control Commission seized about $1.1 million from the owner of an illegal casino in Kissimmee following the raid that led to the arrest of the Osceola County sheriff and several others on racketeering charges, court records say.

But the owner, Krishna Deokaran, described by one of those arrested as “the guy that has all the connections and is at the top of the food chain,” has not been charged with a crime despite being identified by prosecutors in open court as a co-conspirator. It is not clear why.

Court records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel show the seizures are the result of two forfeiture cases filed in the months after the Aug. 27 raid at The Eclipse, the Kissimmee casino prosecutors placed at the center of the accusations against Sheriff Marcos Lopez.

One of those cases, filed Sept. 30 in Osceola County, additionally offered a newly detailed glimpse of the yearlong undercover investigation by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation leading up to the raid, although Lopez is not mentioned.

The material does, however, yield the name of Deokaran, who in a settlement lost $138,856 in cash recovered at The Eclipse. In Orange County, he further relinquished nearly $988,000 across four bank accounts apparently tied to a casino in Leesburg.

While not named in filings left unsealed in the Orange County case, the MBI affidavit suggests for the first time the link to the Leesburg casino called Players Club, located across several units at a shopping center on U.S. Highway 27. A lawyer who represented Deokaran in both forfeiture cases did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Prosecutors have previously accused Lopez and his alleged accomplices of seeking to expand their illegal gambling operation from Kissimmee into Lake County beginning in 2021, without offering any details.

According to property records, Players Club was owned by Proactive Genius, a limited liability corporation tied to Deokaran and named as an interested party in that forfeiture case along with Proactive Custom Auto and Collision, LLC, which lists Proactive Genius as a manager in business filings. Proactive Genius was also mentioned in the MBI affidavit as a car wash owned by Deokaran.

Players Club was since listed online as being temporarily closed. But an image of the building shows a similar logo on its front door and windows as The Eclipse — with the name of the business spelled out above and below an image of a diamond. However, it hasn’t been confirmed that was the business targeted by the FGCC, the agency tasked with enforcing gambling laws. A spokesperson for that agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Authorities became aware of The Eclipse through an anonymous tip received in 2022, according to records, a year before Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the investigation officially began. The business has since been key to the racketeering charges against Lopez and five others identified so far as being part of the scheme: Carol Cote, Sharon Fedrick, Sheldon Wetherholt, Ying Zhang and Lopez’s estranged wife Robin Severance-Lopez.

Zhang is the only known suspect to have not yet been arrested, while Lopez and Severance-Lopez are the only ones who remain in the Lake County Jail on $1 million and $400,000 bonds, respectively.

Prosecutors said Lopez and the others conspired to enrich themselves through the Kissimmee casino. Although the 255-page affidavit laying out the specifics remains under seal, the 54-page MBI affidavit filed in Osceola County a month after the raid and initially resurfaced by WESH describes four visits to The Eclipse beginning July 2023 by undercover agents, who played the games there, took photos of their winnings and documented their findings in preparation for the raid.

It also details interviews with workers about the business, with Fedrick being identified as a manager who ensured the bills were paid for The Eclipse, Players Club and another casino near The Villages. Fedrick would also meet with Deokaran either at his home in Windermere or at Players Club “so she can give him the money from the Eclipse,” the affidavit states, while also telling investigators “business has been slow lately.”

Meanwhile, Wetherholt told investigators he initially created SW Fusion LLC — the entity that formed The Eclipse — believing Deokaran, sometimes referred to as “Kris” in the affidavit, wanted to open a “legal hookah lounge.” When it became clear it would instead be a casino, he “did not want his name on any of the businesses anymore because he knew what Kris was doing was illegal,” according to the affidavit.

Fedrick, however, told the MBI that Deokaran told her “they did not need to worry about law enforcement at Eclipse.” That assurance appears to be supported in records earlier reviewed by the Sentinel, which showed Osceola County deputies responded to The Eclipse dozens of times from 2022 until the day of the raid, including for an alleged attack on a customer by an employee that didn’t result in an arrest.

According to prosecutors, Lopez used his power as Osceola County sheriff to shield The Eclipse from accountability following his election in 2020 as the first Hispanic to run that office. In exchange, they allege he made at least $600,000 for himself and in campaign contributions while Severance-Lopez was tasked with moving the money around.

“There are photos evidencing the defendant’s direct involvement and using his influence to potentially obstruct criminal investigation” into the casino, Statewide Prosecutor Pangiota Papakos told a judge following Lopez’s arrest.

The since-suspended sheriff has pleaded not guilty to the charges while Severance-Lopez, who was arrested Monday, has not entered a plea. At the time of their arrests, Severance-Lopez was seeking a divorce after the couple had been separated since 2019, the year the alleged gambling scheme began.