Hiding Behind The Thin Blue Line

This is the followup from the Story yesterday when we exposed 13 officers in Harris County running an illegal raffle.

I called Deputy Buccini today and informed him of the violations. He didn’t want to answer questions or talk to me about the incident. He became angry and i think threatened me with a non-coherent statement saying “don’t call my phone again, telephone harassment does constitute”. I have included just a few of the violations in this story but the entire law can be read HERE. As you will hear in the audio below, he changed his story from yesterday when i spoke to him. He first said he was running the raffle personally and no charity was involved, today he said the Sheriff Office has a charity but wouldn’t say whether they were involved or not. Even if the Sheriff’s Department has a 501(c)3 it doesn’t exempt them from the many other rules one must follow to perform a legal raffle in Texas.

Here is a list of ways the Police in Harris county are violating the raffle laws here in Texas.

[Sec. 2002.003. QUALIFIED NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. (a) An organization incorporated or holding a certificate of authority under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes) is a qualified nonprofit organization for the purposes of this chapter if the organization:
(4) qualifies for and has obtained an exemption from federal income tax from the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c), Internal Revenue Code of 1986]

A DontComply.com reporter was told in the recorded phone call that the officers were handling the raffle personally and no charity or third party was involved. Bryan Buccini said he was taking checks made out to him personally and he would cash them personally.

[Sec. 2002.054. RESTRICTIONS ON RAFFLE PROMOTION AND TICKET SALES. (a) The organization may not:
(2) promote or advertise a raffle statewide, other than on the organization’s Internet website or through a publication or solicitation, including a newsletter, social media, or electronic mail, provided only to previously identified supporters of the organization; or
(3) sell or offer to sell tickets for a raffle statewide.
(c) Except as provided by Section 2002.0541, the organization may not permit a person who is not authorized by the organization to sell or offer to sell raffle tickets.]

I was told by Deputy Bryan Buccini that I could buy tickets statewide and that other tickets were sold to people from the other side of the state.

[Sec. 2002.055. TICKET DISCLOSURES. The following information must be printed on each raffle ticket sold or offered for sale:
(1) the name of the organization conducting the raffle;
(2) the address of the organization or of a named officer of the organization;
(3) the ticket price;
(4) a general description of each prize having a value of more than $10 to be awarded in the raffle; and
(5) the date on which the raffle prize or prizes will be awarded.]

DontComply was told the raffle tickets were generic tickets bought at Home Depot that did not include the necessary information.

Sec. 2002.058. INJUNCTIVE ACTION AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED RAFFLE. (a) A county attorney, district attorney, criminal district attorney, or the attorney general may bring an action in county or district court for a permanent or temporary injunction or a temporary restraining order prohibiting conduct involving a raffle or similar procedure that:
(1) violates or threatens to violate state law relating to gambling; and
(2) is not authorized by this chapter or other law.
(b) Venue for an action under this section is in the county in which the conduct occurs or in which a defendant in the action resides.

As you see, the District Attorney will not stop illegal activity by the police in Harris County. This is a prime example of why there is a “Us versus Them” mentality. The police are trying to play the victim card pretending they dont know why there is such a division and hate towards them. Here it is. They are above the law. They can violate laws they took an oath to uphold while the rest of the population are constantly in fear of being oppressed by these unjust arbitrary laws.