Iowa 19 year old busted for illegal poker

The Des Moines Register reports that a 19-year-old University of Iowa student has been charged by local police with four gambling offenses on allegations that he was hosting illegal Texas Hold'em poker games with pots of around $800.

Police officials said that Jonathon Koch's Iowa City house was "devoted to illegal gambling" and that he had poker tables set up in his garage, basement and on the main floor.

Koch was the banker in the poker games, police claim.

His charges include two counts of illegal gambling, class D felonies that carry a maximum 5-year prison term and $7 500 in fines, and two counts of keeping a gambling house, serious misdemeanors that carry a maximum one-year jail term and a $1 500 fine in the state.

He was also charged with four separate drug counts after police alleged they had found one pound of marijuana, $1 640 in cash and distribution paraphernalia.

The charges stem from incidents earlier this week, when officers searched Koch's house, and from February, when an undercover officer played in one of the poker games there.

Koch is being held in Johnson County Jail on a $25 000 cash bond. Combined, Koch's charges carry a maximum 24-year prison sentence and $38 000 in fines.

Court records show Koch is unemployed but owned a BMW worth $70 000, had $25 000 worth of jewelry and a $2 000 motor scooter.