https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Beaumont-businessman-expected-to-meet-with-feds-14026007.php
Traffic stop yields clues in fed investigation of businessman
By Kaitlin Bain
Updated 4:57 pm CDT, Thursday, June 20, 2019
The U.S. Department of Justice seized $5.7 million in property from locally owned Daylight Motors stemming from a sports gambling investigation that begin in 2014 Photo taken Monday, May 01, 2017 Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise less
The U.S. Department of Justice seized $5.7 million in property from locally owned Daylight Motors stemming from a sports gambling investigation that begin in 2014 Photo taken Monday, May 01, 2017 Guiseppe ... more
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Photo Editor / Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
The arrest of a Beaumont businessman earlier this week in East Texas has brought new attention to a continued federal investigation of him.
Larry Tillery, owner of Daylight Motors at Dowlen Road and Eastex Freeway, was arrested Tuesday afternoon near Colmesneil by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper on an outstanding felony warrant out of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Sgt. Stephanie Davis said.
Tillery was pulled over for driving in the left lane but not passing. The trooper then determined Tillery had an active warrant.
Parish District Attorney spokeswoman Patsy Dugas said the warrant, signed Sept. 17, 2018, was for writing $330,000 in worthless checks.
She refused to elaborate on the circumstances.
Tillery was released from the Tyler County Jail after Calcasieu Parish authorities chose not to extradite him. Dugas explained that the parish is working with the federal government to include restitution to the business he owes the money to as part of a plea agreement in the works with prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Tillery is expected to report to federal court next week, Dugas said. If he doesn't, the parish will move forward with arresting and extraditing him, she said.
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Davilyn Walston, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Beaumont, would not confirm that a plea agreement is being prepared or give any more information as to what other crimes are alleged.
However, she did note that a 2017 raid of Daylight Motors was part of an "ongoing investigation."
When reached at his business by phone, Tillery acknowledged that he is expected to appear before the court next week but declined to comment further.
In May 2017, the Department of Justice filed paperwork to seize nine properties and more than $230,000 in cash from Tillery. The properties in Beaumont, Lumberton and Phoenix, Arizona, at the time were valued more than $5.3 million.
Court records show that the civil forfeiture action was dismissed by a U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone in March with the expectation that everyone involved will follow a settlement agreement that mandates the cash seized be forfeited to the United States, among other requirements. Forfeiture of the seized property was dismissed earlier.
Yet court documents in the case also say that the property was related to a "separate criminal investigation … pending in the Eastern District of Texas, which involves the same conduct as alleged in this case."
According to an affidavit filed at the time, the federal government began investigating Tillery and his associates in April 2014 and found evidence that he was operating an illegal sports betting ring and evading taxes associated with gambling.
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Tillery also was involved in May 2016 campaign contributions that led to the indictment of now-Sheriff Zena Stephens and two opponents at the time, Deputy Joe "QB" Stevenson and former Beaumont police Lt. Ray Beck. Attorney General Ken Paxton's office at the time said federal investigators alerted state authorities of the alleged violations after an unrelated investigation.
kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com
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