Amarillo Slim indicted in molestation case

Monday, Aug. 11, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston, one the world's most recognizable gamblers, was indicted Friday in Texas on charges of molesting a child.

A Randall County grand jury returned three indictments against the legendary poker player for "indecency with a child by contact" on Jan. 1, March 13 and March 14 -- allegedly during visits to the home of a 12-year-old female relative.

Preston, who won the World Series of Poker in 1972 and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992, both at Binion's Horseshoe, is a longtime visitor to Las Vegas. Over the years, he has hosted the Amarillo Slim Super Bowl of Poker at various Nevada venues.

"It is a horror that has become pervasive in our society and hearing that Slim has been charged with such a crime is a shock to me," longtime Las Vegas gaming analyst Larry Grossman, a friend of Preston, said.

"There is the presumption of innocence and, if incidents such as the McMartin case have taught us anything, it is that we have to tread softly," he said. "Still these are very serious charges. And it is so sad."

The McMartin case involved massive indictments in the early 1980s against a Southern California family that ran a school for children in California. The family lost the school but no convictions resulted from those indictments.

Grossman said it is too early to tell what these charges alone will do to the legend of Amarillo Slim, who earlier this year released his memoir, "Amarillo Slim in a World of Fat People' (William Morrow, $24.95).

The Amarillo Globe-News, in its Saturday editions, reported that the grand jury met for nearly three hours Friday with Oldham County District Attorney Don Davis before returning the indictment.

A father of three, Preston also was a Little League baseball coach for his sons' teams.