The owner of a bottled-water company who ran a sports betting operation from the Kailua-Kona business is going to federal prison for 20 months.
A federal judge sentenced Eric Ford to prison Thursday for operating an illegal gambling business and for structuring cash transactions to evade reporting requirements.
Ford, 45, owner of Aloha Springs Water Co., pleaded guilty to the charges in February. He also agreed to forfeit $112,900 authorities seized from two safe deposit boxes in coordinated raids in November; $7,666 seized from Ford’s home and business; a 2004 Mercedes sedan; and a Rolex watch.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi gave Ford until Sept. 19 to turn himself in to begin serving his term.
Ford is the third person sentenced among the eight people charged in a November indictment.
Kobayashi sentenced Matthew Phillips on Wednesday to five years of probation, Kendale Lima­hai in June to two months in jail, and Robert Bland also in June to three years’ probation.
Phillips also agreed to forfeit $51,496 and a 2010 Toyota pickup truck. Limahai agreed to forfeit $4,843 and a 1999 Lexus sedan.
Defense lawyer Thomas Otake had asked Kobayashi to sentence Ford to six to eight months in jail, in line with the sentences of Phillips and Limahai, who were just one step down in the gambling organization’s hierarchy.
Kobayashi said she handed Ford a much stiffer sentence because he was the leader of the operation and the only one to have additional charges for structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements related to the purchase of money orders in amounts less than $10,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar said Ford purchased the money orders to conceal proceeds from the gambling operation.
The other defendants, Marlo Banasan, Jonah Yardley and Trever Carter, have pleaded guilty to single conspiracy or gambling charges and are awaiting sentencing. Ford’s wife, Barbara, pleaded guilty last month to failing to report her husband’s illegal activities. She is scheduled to face Kobayashi for sentencing in January.
The government said the gambling operation, which primarily involved sports betting but also included dice and poker games, ran from at least November 2009 to November 2012.
