TAVARES, Fla. — While suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez remains in jail on $1 million bail for racketeering charges, all three of his co-defendants who have been arrested are now out on bail.
The latest was Sheldon Wetherholt, was arrested Wednesday and bailed out later that day.
Wetherholt, 58, walked out of the Lake County jail with an ankle monitor. On his way, he stopped and opened up to reporters about the charges against him.
Wetherholt’s attorney was not with him as he said he doesn’t know Lopez and claimed his only role was setting up LLCs for the business at the center of the illegal gambling investigation. But he claimed he had no idea anything illegal was happening inside these social clubs in Osceola and Lake counties.
“I don’t know this Sheriff Lopez. I don’t know him from Adam. I don’t even know where he came from,” Wetherholt told reporters outside th ejail.
Investigators say the gambling operation racked in more than $21 million, but Wetherholt claims he barely saw any of that money.
“$300 dollars a month. That was just to supplement my income to support my family. That’s what I got paid,” Wetherholt said.
Two other defendants, Carol Cote and Sharon Fedrick, have also bailed out of jail in Lake County.
The final suspect, Ying Zhang, has not yet been captured.
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