ORLANDO, Fla. — Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez has been charged with racketeering and suspended from office for involvement in a “massive” illegal gambling operation that generated more than $20 million in proceeds and spanned Central Florida, state and federal officials announced Thursday.

A charging document released by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office said the case centers around a money-laundering operation through an illegal gambling house in Kissimmee known as the Fusion Social Club run by Lopez and his co-conspirators. The establishment conducted illegal lotteries while illicitly possessing slot machines as part of an operation enriching the sheriff while in office.

The U.S. Homeland Security Investigations office in Tampa, which took part in the investigation, posted video to social media of Lopez’s arrest following Uthmeier’s announcement of Lopez’ arrest. The video shows agents surrounding Lopez, dressed in his sheriff uniform, at what appears to be one of the agency’s offices. As they slap on the handcuffs, Lopez appears to ask, “What’s this about?”

In his executive order suspending Lopez, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Christopher Blackmon, Florida Highway Patrol’s central region chief, to replace him as Osceola sheriff.

Lopez will face his charges in the Fifth Judicial Circuit — which covers Lake County and neighbors to the Ninth Judicial Circuit that covers Osceola — with prosecution handled by the Office of Statewide Prosecution. He was jailed in Lake County without bond and will be arraigned June 30, records show.

It all amounts to a disgraceful denouement for Lopez, who has been a magnet for controversy since he became Osceola’s first Hispanic sheriff in 2020. The longtime lawman has been accused of personal indiscretions such as receiving a nude photo of a co-worker, and professional missteps including his deputies’ aggressive actions in pursuing shoplifters at a Target and killing their driver. Most recently, Lopez posted on social media a picture of the corpse of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, then lied about what he had done.

According to the charging document released by Uthmeier’s office, the illegal actions by Lopez and his alleged associates — Ying Zhang, Sharon Fedrick, Sheldon Wetherholt, Carol Cote “and others known and unknown” — date to October 2019 and continued through last August.

Lopez’s involvement started during his first campaign for sheriff, document said. Finance reports reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel show one co-conspirator, Zhang, donated $1,000 to his 2020 campaign. No other co-conspirators are listed as campaign donors under their own names, records show.

Lopez is further accused of using confidential law enforcement information to evade accountability. Though details of how the gambling operation functioned have not been released, HSI Tampa said in its post the scheme generated more than $21.6 million in illicit proceeds.

In a prepared statement, Uthmeier called Lopez’s arrest “a solemn day for Florida and our law enforcement community.”

“We put great trust in our constitutional officers, especially those who are our communities’ first line of defense.” he said in the statement. “However, the law must be applied equally, regardless of position, power, or branch of government. Public servants should never exploit the public’s trust for personal gain. Our Statewide Prosecutors will hold Sheriff Lopez, his associates, and all lawbreakers accountable.”

John Cordon, special agent in charge of HSI in Tampa, added: “Corruption undermines the integrity of public trust, HSI along with our partners are committed to combating it.”

Others are expected to face charges but they have not been named.

Osceola County Manager Don Fisher issued a statement after Lopez’s arrest saying the county “had no role in this investigation,” referring questions to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, which did not respond to a message seeking comment.

“The County and the Commission stand ready at the helm to support Interim Sheriff Christopher Blackmon and the courageous men and women of the Osceola Sheriff’s Department however we can during this period, as appropriate,” Fisher’s statement said.

Mark NeJame, an attorney whose namesake firm represents the family of Jayden Baez, killed in the Target incident, said he’s not surprised by the arrest.

“It’s terrible when any public official is accused of crimes and compromising the very people and laws they have sworn to protect,” NeJame said.

Before State Attorney Monique Worrell could complete her investigation of the Target incident, Lopez was part of a scheme to get rid of her by forwarding to DeSantis’ office accusations that she was inexplicably dropping criminal cases against accused drug traffickers.

A review by the Sentinel revealed more than 60% of those cases either had charges downgraded or abandoned entirely because of botched investigations by Lopez’s deputies. None of those cases were reopened by State Attorney Andrew Bain, Worrell’s governor-appointed successor who lost to her in the November election.

At the time of his arrest, Lopez was attempting to remove himself from the Brady list of questionable law enforcement officers maintained by Worrell’s office. He was placed there by Bain after making conflicting statements about posting the photo of Kissimmee teen Madeline Soto to his Instagram page.

Before that he had been accused of ogling a nude photo of one of his deputies sent by her then-boyfriend — a deputy later arrested in Orange County on a domestic battery charge for which he was acquitted.

Lopez denied the accusation despite a screenshot text thread that was shared appearing to show him commenting on the photo. That screenshot was later said to be doctored, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

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