Police Officers Charged in Illegal Kansas Poker Game

Wichita’s illegal underground poker games have hit the headlines again this week with serving and former police officers among those charged with obstructing a criminal investigation according to a federal indictment.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall revealed the latest results of a several years’ long investigation into underground gambling which last week saw two men charged with various offences including running an illegal gambling and sportsbetting ring and tax evasion.

The latest indictment claims that 45-year old Wichita police officer Bruce Mackey, 45, Michael Zajkowski, 50, now a former Wichita police officer, and 48 year old Brock Wedman, conspired to ‘out’ an undercover investigator at a poker game, all charged with one count of obstructing law enforcement, with Wedman also charged with lying to the FBI.

The sordid tale goes back to 2014 when Wedman and an unnamed associate were running an illegal poker game, the pair becoming suspicious about one of the players who they believed to be an undercover officer – and enlisted Zajkowski and Mackey to find out if the player’s car ‘belonged to the city of Wichita’.

The indictment alleges that Wedman and a co-conspirator operated a gambling business and sponsored an illegal poker game on Feb. 12, 2014, in Wichita. When Wedman began to suspect there was an undercover officer at the game, he wanted to know if the car the man was driving belonged to the City of Wichita.

The serving officers used police resources to confirm Wedman’s suspicions, an illegal act in itself, and when interviews by the FBI in February 2017, Wedman lied about giving the police officers the license plate and VIN number of the car.

Another Wichita police officer, 52 year old Michael Frederiksen, has also been charged with ‘two counts of making false statements to FBI investigators’ according to local news outlet KWCH.com.

The criminal complaint alleges that Frederiksen, while still a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper, was ‘filmed taking part in an illegal cash poker game’ – the FBI having video evidence of the State trooper playing in 2014 at 922 1/2 E. Douglas in the Old Town district of Wichita.

According to the KWCH.com’s coverage of the indictment, ‘The site was equipped with poker tables, a cabinet for valuables and poker chips, video surveillance equipment, liquor and snacks. Staff included dealers, someone serving food and a waitress serving drinks and giving massages to the players.’

Again there was an undercover investigator on the site, who at some point during the game ‘tried to use his phone to take photos’ – and although he was allowed to continue playing after being spoken to by the men running the illicit game, the cardroom venue was subsequently changed afterwards.

The FBI also claim that Fredericksen ‘had frequent contact with one of the organizers of the poker game’, a man identified in the charges only as J.S..

As with the earlier indictments, all those charged face a penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.