Cafeno raid may be test for state

Date: 4/5/2011

April 6, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — The owner of Cafeno's Cyber Caf may have thought he had a grand slam, but after an investigation by state authorities, he could lose it all.

An investigation led by the Attorney General's Office (AG), State Police, the Hampden County District Attorney's Office and the Chicopee Police Department led to a raid on Cafeno's Cyber Caf on Main Street on March 31.

At stake is whether or not the process through which the money won by customers playing gambling games on the Internet is legally gambling; and if so, illegal.

According to Harry Pierre, a spokesperson for the AG's Office, this was the first such investigation undertaken by the AG of such new businesses that are spreading across the Commonwealth. He added he could not say if any municipal police departments have taken actions of them own.

No arrests were made, but the business was closed at least temporarily. Pierre could not say whether or not the business would remain closed until the investigation concludes.

Pierre added the caf 's corporate offices in West Springfield were also raided. Steven Sheldon, the owner of Cafeno's, is also the president of B&S Entertainment Inc. in West Springfield, which is described by several business listings as a vending machine company. Attempts were made to contact Sheldon for comment, but the company's listed telephone number was no longer in service.

Opened in 2009, Cafeno's described itself in the following manner on its Facebook page: "Cafeno's Cyber Caf is an exciting new type of Internet Caf where buying network time gives you the chance to play sweepstakes and win cash! Looks like a casino! Sounds like a casino! And you can win cash like a casino ... Plush, comfortable atmosphere with complimentary food and beverage service. Surf the net, check your e-mail, do office work, or play games and you're automatically entered into our sweepstakes cash giveaway, where you can win anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars! Win cash through our sweepstakes promotion. No purchase necessary, must be 18 years of age or older to play the sweepstakes."

When the business opened in 2009, Mayor Michael Bissonnette requested the State Police examine the premise of the business. At that time, there appeared to be no apparent problem.

Subsequently Police Chief John Ferraro Jr. asked the Hampden County District Attorney's Office to request an investigation. Pierre did not know how long the investigation had taken place prior to the raid.

In January, State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera of Springfield filed House Bill 02813, An Act Prohibiting Cyber Caf Sweepstakes, to prevent cyber/Internet caf s from operating sweepstakes games in the Commonwealth.

The bill is currently before the legislature's Joint Committee on the Judiciary.

"These businesses prey on the elderly and working poor stated Coakley-Rivera said. "Allowing them to spring up in neighborhoods across the Commonwealth, without proper oversight or regulation, is simply unacceptable."

Rhonda Roy of West Springfield, a customer of the cyber cafe was upset about the closure.

"We all went there. The Chicopee Police Department was right there and I must say there were some policemen in there. We didn't do nothing wrong. Why are we being punished? They knew for one year and eight months they were there," Roy wrote to this reporter.