Bingo Game Passed Undercover Investigation, Detective Testifies

A short-lived 1985 Los Angeles Police Department undercover investigation found no illegal activities at bingo games run by Identity Inc., a vice detective testified late Wednesday at a license revocation hearing for the city’s richest bingo parlor.

Detective Fred Clapp said in an interview later, however, that the secret mission’s cover was blown before police could fully assess whether any illegal activity was taking place.

Clapp said he arranged to get a volunteer job at the Woodland Hills-based charity for a female vice officer as part of a probe to see if Identity volunteers were either skimming bingo proceeds or being paid to work there--both illegal.

But the female officer, using the pseudonym Megan Bender, never saw any illegal activities, Clapp testified Wednesday.

Clapp’s testimony came during the sixth and final day of testimony in the hearing. The city’s Social Service Department has contended that Edith Ryan, president of Identity, paid her volunteer workers in violation of state law.

Identity has grossed more than $29 million from bingo since it began using the game of chance in 1982 to finance its rehabilitation programs for physically handicapped teen-agers and young adults, according to city records. Most of the proceeds are spent on prizes and administrative overhead, the records also show.

Identity has continued to operate bingo games at its cavernous facility in Woodland Hills since the revocation proceedings against it began in August.

Clapp and Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman said in an interview Wednesday that Bender’s cover was blown three months after her secret operation began.

While never proved conclusively, Boeckman said he suspected that a police officer was involved in exposing Bender’s Police Department ties. Boeckman said a department employee was believed responsible for running a license plate check on Bender’s car, which might have disclosed that she was using a phony name. For years, Identity has employed off-duty Los Angeles police officers to provide security at the bingo games and has used the wives of officers as volunteers.

The department’s Internal Affairs Division conducted an investigation to determine how Bender’s cover was blown, but no officer was ever disciplined as a result of that inquiry, Boeckman said.

Under state law, Boeckman said he could not divulge the findings of the Internal Affairs investigation.

Clapp was called to testify by the city in an effort to impeach the previous testimony of Gene Hawkins, who contended that Sylvia Dean, one of Ryan’s chief accusers and a former official at Identity, had offered to pay him $10,000 to frighten Ryan into leaving town so Dean could take control of the bingo operation.

Clapp testified that Hawkins was an ex-convict who had served time in prison for kidnaping and armed robbery, and was now on probation. Clapp also said that Ryan had once suggested to him that Hawkins wanted to be paid for his testimony.

During the proceedings to revoke Identity’s license, four former Identity volunteers said Ryan had paid them from $100 to $300 a night for their efforts. Any bingo proceeds after prizes and overhead are required to be used for charity under state law.

Ryan’s rebuttal has been that she is the victim of a vendetta by jealous and disgruntled former workers.

Also sparking an inquiry by the Internal Affairs Division were claims by several of Ryan’s accusers that some off-duty police officers who have worked as security guards for Identity were aware of illegal payments to workers and claims that the wives of some of the officers got to play bingo for free.

Both sides in the case have until May 21 to submit written summations to John Rice, an administrative law judge. Rice then has 30 days to make his recommendations to the city. Also, whoever loses in the administrative process is expected to appeal their case to the courts.