These computers were for illegal gambling, Manatee deputies say. Now they help families

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office donated 40 computers and monitors seized in a gambling raid to a Bradenton elementary school.

Randy Warren, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said detectives who worked on the investigation were pleased to see the equipment go to a good cause.

“We turned something bad into something good,” Warren said.

About $12,000 of computer equipment will go to Daughtrey Elementary School, a Title I school in Bradenton, where most students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. School leaders plan to give the computers to low-income families who may not have access to one at home.

“We’re very thankful that the sheriff’s office thought of us,” said Mike Barber, a spokesman for Manatee County Schools. “I know they put a lot of time and effort into making sure that the computers were scrubbed to where they could make them available for our purposes.”

A sheriff’s office crackdown on illegal gambling in July 2023 saw deputies seize 69 gambling machines along with more than $52,000 in illegal proceeds, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.

Several businesses were also closed during the operation, investigators said.

Another operation by the sheriff’s office in September 2023 saw them shut down another game room, along with seizing another 33 slot machines and $15,000 in illegal profit, according to deputies.

On April 10, the Bradenton Police Department conducted a similar raid at the Pour Decisions Saloon in downtown Bradenton, seizing four gambling machines, according to a release.

“It was a loss for these businesses,” Warren said. “They had been warned multiple times by the sheriff’s office and the Florida Gaming Commission that they were not licensed to run these businesses in our county. They paid the price in terms of having their businesses shut down and losing valuable equipment.”