This Wichita laundromat is a gambling spot, cops say. The city wants to padlock it
The City of Wichita wants to padlock a local coin-operated laundromat that keeps encouraging customers to gamble on its property.
Wichita police have seized at least 34 illegal gambling machines from the Fabric Care Center, 2910 E. Harry, since 2016 — but every time authorities haul some out, more show up, the city said in a March 21 court filing that seeks closure of the business.
The ongoing gambling is a “common nuisance” that subjects the community to “irreparable injury,” according to the city’s application for a temporary injunction.
The laundromat, sandwiched between a diner and apartments on Harry just west of George Washington Boulevard, is owned by a Kansas corporation called Cooper Inc.
Neither its president, Benedict “B. Sean” Klenda of Wichita, nor its resident agent, Wichita attorney Michael Studtmann, immediately returned phone messages seeking comment. The laundromat remained open Monday.
The city says in court filings that allowing the business to operate “will continue to pose a threat to the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the City of Wichita.” It adds that crime statistics within 200 feet of Fabric Care Center “are high”:
Wichita police officers have logged one homicide, one rape, five aggravated assaults, two simple assaults, five weapons cases, three larcenies and 12 drug cases at the site over the past 14 months.
At least one person also has called the Wichita Police Department “complaining that a family member is addicted to gaming” at the laundromat, which “does not advertise help for gambling addictions as is required in state owned casinos,” the court filings say.
Padlocking the business “is necessary” to prevent future gambling at the location, the city contends in court filings.
The city wants a judge to deem the property a nuisance, order that it be locked up for three months to two years, and bar its owners and workers from allowing gambling there in the future.
A Sedgwick County judge will consider the city’s request during a hearing set for 2 p.m. on April 3, according to court records.
In Kansas, most types of gambling are illegal. The exceptions are state-owned and tribal casinos, dog and horse racing in state licensed and regulated facilities where it’s voter approved, bingo games run by licensed and regulated nonprofit organizations, and state-owned and operated lotteries.
A game is considered gambling if a person pays to plays, there’s no skill involved and winners get a prize or payout.
In recent years, Wichita police have shut down poker houses, stopped gambling at charity events and seized hundreds of illegal and “gray area” gaming machines during raids at smoke shops, restaurants, convenience stores and other small businesses across town.
Illegal gambling in Wichita also has drawn the attention of the feds. A years-long FBI probe has resulted in indictments for some law enforcement officers and businessmen and implicated others.
Klenda, the Fabric Care Center president, was arrested at his laundromat in 2017 during a police crackdown and is facing a felony commercial gambling charge in state court. He was arrested again in February when he fled from police serving the third search warrant related to gambling at the business since 2016, according to court records in his criminal case.
Klenda is prohibited from entering the laundromat, according to a court document that lists some of the conditions of his bond. He also has to wear a GPS monitoring device on his ankle.
He’s scheduled to go to trial in April.
According to the city’s request to padlock Fabric Care Center:
On Oct. 4, 2016, a Wichita police detective saw nine gambling machines at the laundromat including an electronic slot machine that he put money into, played and received a receipt from that he cashed out at the register. The next day, authorities served a warrant on the business and seized 10 illegal gambling devices, $2,417.74 from the machines and $1,532 from the store.
During a police interview, an employee who worked at the laundromat for three years told a detective that “there have always been machines” on site since she started her job and that the average payout per shift is $400 to $500. She also said their purpose “is for gambling” and estimated that 75 percent of the laundromat’s revenue comes from the illegal machines.
A Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission agent later confirmed that the machines were the type where a player’s skill had no bearing on the chance of winning.
A detective went back to the laundromat on July 25, 2017, and found 13 more illegal gambling machines. That time he put $20 in a machine, played for a while and received a cash out receipt for $26.75, which a cashier in the building exchanged for money. When he lost $20 on a wheel slot machine game called “Lucky Striker” he inserted more cash and won $21.90.
Authorities seized those 13 machines, a safe, bank bags and $4,228 from the laundromat’s cash register two days later.
A different Wichita police detective found 11 electronic gambling machines when he went to Fabric Care Center last month. Those were seized on Feb. 14. A woman who worked at the laundromat for six years told police during an interview that the business used to keep the machines upstairs but moved them to the basement of the building after authorities seized them in 2016 and 2017.
She told police that a woman named “Charity” takes half of the profits from the machines — $2,600 to $4,000 — each week.
This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 5:01 AM.
