Ex-Teamsters boss pleads guilty to gambling charges

Wednesday, May 17, 2000 | 10:11 a.m.

But on Tuesday, Neal pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of operating an illegal gambling business, one count of conspiring to evade paying personal income taxes and one count of money laundering, admitting the machines were part of an illegal gambling business that he and his wife, Cleo, operated in Muncie.

Cleo Neal, 62, also pleaded guilty to one count of operating an illegal gambling business and one count of conspiring to evade paying personal income taxes.

Under the plea agreements filed in court, John Neal, also 62, agreed to a sentence of 3half years in prison and a fine of $265,000. He also agreed to forfeit $970,176.71 in cash seized from his residence by federal agents in an August 1996 search.

His wife agreed to a sentence of 12 months and one day.

In exchange for the plea agreements, the U.S. attorney's office dropped related charges of tax evasion, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering to promote illegal gambling.

John Neal also has agreed to pay $200,000 to the IRS.

Investigators said the Neals earned $3.3 million from 1992 to 1995 and never paid taxes on that income because they never reported it.

The plea agreement also calls for the Randolph County prosecutor to dismiss all gambling-related counts filed against the Neals in the mid-1990s.

The Neals operate Video Service in Muncie, which distributes video amusement devices. Some of those devices are called video gambling machines because they are games of chance, such as poker, in which people can lose or win money.

Neal had been charged with 10 gambling-related counts in Madison County, when video machines he supposedly owned were seized from a tavern in 1992.

In the plea agreements, the Neals agreed to withdraw their claims for that money and allow the government to keep it under forfeiture law. The government, in exchange, agreed to release liens on Neals' property.

In 1996, Neal resigned as president of both the Indiana Conference of Teamsters and Teamsters Local 135 in Indianapolis. He then went to trial on the charges in Madison County and was acquitted of all counts by a jury.