The details of the federal investigation into illegal gambling and bribery in Kimberly continues to unfold, as papers for a plea agreement for Daniel “Boone” Stone of Morris are filed.

The plea stems from an investigation into bribery of Kimberly Mayor Craig Harris, who wore a “wire” — a concealed recording device — to try to catch as many as nine different people in the act of setting up locations for illegal slot and electronic bingo machines in and around Kimberly. Harris reported the first bribery attempt to the Department of Justice, and has been a key figure in the FBI investigation from the beginning, much as State Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, was in the federal gambling corruption trial that just ended in Montgomery. He received cash bribe payments, and immediately turned those over to the FBI.

Stone will plead guilty to one count of federal programs bribery and operating an illegal gambling business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, plus a fine of as much as $250,000. In plea agreements, it is typical for a much lower sentence and/or fine to be given, though the judge in the case is not bound by the plea agreement.

Additional briefs filed with the plea agreement, there are eight co-conspirators involved in the case. None are named pending action by a federal grand jury, but language in the briefs gives clues to the identity of three of them:

• “Co-conspirator 6” is explicitly stated as Stone’s father. His name is Don Stone.
• “Co-conspirator 9” is described as “A resident of Gardendale, Alabama, and the former owner of a ‘Speed Mart’ gas station/convenience store” who provided machines and paid bribes to Harris. The only “Speed Mart” in the north Jefferson area is located in Warrior, and according to city officials there, it was operated by a Carl Scroggins of Gardendale through July of last year.
• “Co-conspirator 1” is described as “a resident of Warrior, Alabama, and the operator of an AMVETS location in Kimberly, Alabama.” He is charged with providing gambling machines. No current AMVETS post is listed in Kimberly by the organization’s Alabama web site, but a story in the December 17, 2008 edition of The North Jefferson News documents the efforts by Robert Yeager of Warrior to open a post in Kimberly, which was finally approved by the council after being denied a business license at least twice before, partly over worries about alcohol service and gambling activity often associated with such organizations.

The plea agreement indicates three specific locations where gambling machines were either in active use, or where they were proposed to be used: a site om Highway 31, a house on Crane Street, and a house on Bill Jones Road. Other sites were also active, according to the plea agreement, though locations were not mentioned.

Harris said Monday that Blount County Sheriff’s deputies raided a location in Kimberly, with the cooperation of their Jefferson County counterparts, in an unrelated case.

The case falls under federal jurisdiction in part because the city received federal funds for its police department for computers and digital cameras.

Tony Phillips, the attorney out of the Justice Department Public Integrity Section in Washington, was limited in what he could say about the case, but did confirm that the investigation is ongoing. Typically, once prosecutors are ready, indictments are submitted to a federal grand jury.

Stone is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Birmingham on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., though his attorney, Scott Morro, said that may be moved because of a conflict in his schedule.

This update changes an erroneous first name of a co-conspirator.