ORLANDO, Fla. — As thrill-seekers emerged in 2021 from pandemic-induced isolation, the businessman at the center of the racketeering allegations against now-suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez extended his interests to a number of Central Florida casinos running Las Vegas-style games.

He was not discreet, giving his ventures names like “Players Club,” with flashy signage along busy highways. He set up shop in high-profile locations in Osceola County, where investigators say he had a key ally in the former sheriff, and — newly obtained records reveal — in Lake County, where the county government was then sanctioning gaming establishments through an unusual permitting process.

Unlike Lopez and five other associates facing criminal charges, the businessman, Krishna Deokaran, who was named in open court as an alleged co-conspirator, hasn’t been charged with a crime.

But the owner of The Eclipse, the now-closed Kissimmee casino that Lopez allegedly used his position to protect, is a veteran of the local gambling industry who aggressively sought to secure a foothold in Lake around the same time that Osceola County casino opened in 2022, records collected by Lake County as part of its permitting process and reviewed by The Orlando Sentinel show.

And Deokaran worked in that effort with at least two of the same people who now face charges in connection with the Lopez case. The Sentinel previously reported on the existence of those Lake County clubs, but the connections among their key players are clarified in the new records.

Lopez, who prosecutors say first became involved in an illegal gambling scheme in August 2019 and became Osceola County’s sheriff the following year, is accused of tapping The Eclipse for campaign contributions and personal payments while using his office to shield it from law enforcement. Investigators allege he made at least $600,000, and that the now-suspended sheriff and his estranged wife played a “ministerial” role at The Eclipse, although details of that role remain obscure with the state’s continuing refusal to release arrest affidavits and other investigative materials in the case against him.

Investigators have said in court that Lopez and his co-conspirators sought to expand their gaming enterprise into Lake County, though they did not provide any details about those efforts. But the new records from that county shed light on how Lopez’s associates worked with the local code enforcement and planning and zoning offices to shore up their presence there.

The documents do not mention Lopez himself, whose alleged involvement in gambling was not publicly known at the time, and it’s not clear what role he played in the Lake businesses.

Deokaran was a key player, records show. He had been in the casino business since at least 2018, when he met Sheldon Wetherholt, charged as one of Lopez’s co-conspirators. Wetherholt told investigators his sister worked at a Citrus County game room owned by Deokaran, who wanted him to help open a similar entity in Leesburg, with a convenience store and a car wash, according to an affidavit filed as part of a forfeiture case in Osceola County against The Eclipse.

Like Deokaran, Wetherholt had experience in the gaming business, records show. He had opened one such entity the year before, according to an affidavit submitted to Lake County’s Office of Code Enforcement.

Wetherholt, who faces two felony counts in connection with the Lopez case, told investigators his involvement with The Eclipse was limited. He said he only visited the property once, in 2022, before it was open to the public. At the time, he believed Deokaran intended to open a hookah lounge, he told investigators. Later, when it became clear Deokaran had something else in mind, Wetherholt said he told him he wanted no part.

But during that same period, Wetherholt served as a point of contact on permitting applications for at least two Lake County gaming rooms associated with Deokaran, the newly released records show. One of them was Players Club, which was open until recently, located in a retail complex on U.S. Highway 27 alongside a car wash, a smoke shop, a medical office and several other businesses. The other was called The Palace, in Clermont.

Wetherholt’s email address, according to the applications, is “aceyduecy,” an apparent nod to a betting card game

Wetherholt also applied in 2021 for a permit for a third establishment called Lucky’s Arcade, in Clermont. That business had opened in 2017, according to an affidavit he submitted to the county. The permit holder, Fusion Social Club, is the same entity that operated The Eclipse, which opened in February 2022, according to tax collector records. The records for Lucky’s Arcade, however, do not list Deokaran by name.

Another of Lopez’s alleged co-conspirators, Sharon Fedrick, also served as a contact on two applications submitted for casinos connected to Deokaran, including Players Club, where she told investigators she and Wetherholt both worked. Fedrick, according to the affidavit in the Osceola County forfeiture case, said she met Deokaran while playing at a casino in Lake County and would collect and count money pulled from machines at The Eclipse — as much as $200,000 at once — and deliver it to Deokaran.

Deokaran, Wetherholt and Fedrick did not respond to emails or phone calls from the Orlando Sentinel seeking comment for this story.

Gambling is generally illegal in Florida, though it is allowed in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, on cruise ships at sea in international waters or in casinos run by one of Florida’s federally recognized Native American tribes.

While it’s not clear why Deokaran and his affiliates homed in on Lake, the county did, from 2021 until last year, issue permits to businesses that offered illegal games and require annual inspections of those entities, effectively allowing them to operate even though their activities ran afoul of Florida law. Law enforcement officers have told the Sentinel that the practice created confusion among deputies.

It also apparently baffled some members of the public, including one woman who complained in early 2023 to Lake County staff members about a Sorrento casino with the word “arcade” in its name. She urged them to “please shut this nonsense down.”

“I never have seen a police officer checking in on the place but clearly there is nefarious activity going on there which really picks up in the evening,” she wrote. “And last I had always been told and understood, gambling was illegal here. And that is exactly what this establishment is. It should not be labeled as an ‘arcade’ as that is misleading to children who think it looks cool and want to go play.”

The next year, Lake County Commissioners voted to stop permitting illegal gambling businesses.

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