Covington business owner arrested for illegal gambling | Crime

On August 2nd around 8:00 PM, Tipton County Sheriff’s Office Investigators executed two search warrants related to an undercover gambling operation. The warrants were served at 808 Stitt Street in Covington and Little Porky’s located at 105A Muellar Brass Road in Covington.

The operation confirmed there were “payoffs” being made at the Stitt street address by Denise Whitehead, 39, of 1123 Tatlock in Covington.

Patrons would go to the residence and gamble on the machines and then receive cash “payoffs” for their winnings.

The investigation further confirmed that the owner of the machines to be Steven Andrew Uttz, 49, of 331 Fair Way Drive in Covington.

Uttz was interviewed and admitted owning the machines and receiving cash for the illegal gambling.

Uttz was arrested for Aggravated Gambling Promotion and is free on a $5000.00 bond awaiting his court appearance in the Tipton County General Sessions Court on 11 September. Denise Whitehead has an active warrant related to the case for Aggravated Gambling Promotion.

“This is an example of a tip called into the Sheriff’s Office that the investigators confirmed to be an illegal gambling operation. The machines are not illegal to play until the individuals running the operations begin to make cash “payoffs," says Tipton County Sheriff Pancho Chumley.

The one exception is the “slider” machines which are illegal to possess.

According to Sheriff Chumley,“Any of these cases are also referred to the Department of Revenue to review any tax issues that may have occurred during the activity. This operation was not in a business but in a residence in the center of the community. We will continue to attempt to identify other illegal gambling operations but it takes the citizen’s help to identify these locations which sometimes are hidden or have limited access to the public”

If anyone has information on Whitehead’s whereabouts, please call the Criminal Investigations Division at 901-475-3300, Central Dispatch after hours at 901-475-4300, phone in tips at 901-475-3007, email tips to Sheriff@tiptonco.com.