Two men charged in connection with illegal gambling businesses in Springfield, Joplin

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Two men have been charged after allegedly operating illegal gambling enterprises in Joplin and Springfield.

Online court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri show that Preston Henry Bustillo and Rahulkumar Dashrathlal Patel are charged with interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Their operation involved a Georgia-based business and multiple game rooms in Springfield and Joplin, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 2.

A monthlong investigation led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with help from the Springfield Police Department (SPD) and Joplin Police Department (JPD), revealed that an illegal gambling enterprise was established by a Georgia-based business that had opened locations in Springfield.

On March 19, 2024, shortly after the City of Springfield passed an ordinance banning "no-chance" gaming machines , documents state that officers from multiple agencies executed search warrants at several locations in Springfield, and initially made contact with Patel during the search. Documents say that just days later on March 22, a SPD officer spotted three Penske box trucks outside two different illegal gambling locations, where people were loading the remaining gambling machines into the trucks.

Investigators found the trucks had all been rented by a Georgia-based business, documents say. Bustillo was identified as the driver of the trucks on the rental agreement from March 20, which had been listed as a "commercial local" rental for "intrastate" use.

In September, JPD detectives received word of an illegal gambling business operating in Joplin. When officers went to the location on Sept. 6, documents say they encountered Patel for a second time, who identified himself as the manager of the business. He told investigators that he had come to manage the Joplin business after the gambling operation he ran in Springfield was raided by police. When JPD officers informed Patel the business was illegal, documents say he claimed he would shut the business down.

Documents say JPD officers found the location still open on Sept. 24 and made contact with a different manager, who claimed Patel had left the state of Missouri. Undercover officers returned to the business on Oct. 16, where documents say officers confirmed the video gambling machines operated like traditional slot machines.

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Upon attempting to cash out, undercover officers noted that the machines had a feature asking them to press one of three boxes to print their winning ticket. If officers pressed the incorrect box, it would print out a ticket of lesser value than what the machine displayed. Documents also state that employees would round down the winnings to make an even dollar amount (changing $5.63 in winnings to $5, for example).

When officers returned to serve search warrants at the business, police seized hard drives from 47 gambling devices, over $4,000 in cash and handwritten documents showing tens of thousands of dollars passing through the business.

JPD also contacted the owner of the building, documents say, who said the space was being rented by a man from New York, along with a warehouse he also owned in Joplin.

Patel and Bustillo were arrested on Nov. 1, after multiple agencies followed them to the warehouse and the business location and observed them loading gambling machines into a Penske truck.

In a post-Miranda interview, Bustillo admitted to knowing that the machines he was loading were gambling machines, that he'd known Patel for a year, and had also traveled to Springfield in March to remove gambling machines.