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The ten-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 brought the threat of terrorism back to the front of people’s minds, but a small Alabama town had already gotten a reminder nearly a month earlier. Less than a month before the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, Pelham, Ala., had a terrorism scare when a man entered a local church and began threatening church employees based on visions he claimed he was seeing. The man was believed to have a mental disability, and a warrant was issued on charges of terrorist activity. But the incident wasn’t the first threat of terrorism the town had seen this year.

Late this summer, the Pelham Police Department were working in conjunction with federal officials to investigate an Uzbek national who was staying at an Extended Stay motel in Pelham. Ulugbek Kodirov, 21, an Uzbekistan native, was charged with four counts of threatening the life of President Barack Obama during a week in mid-July.

An indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for Kodirov threatening the president on four different days in July. He was also charged with being an illegal alien that was in possession of a firearm and illegally having a fully automatic weapon. The firearm charges referred to a Sendra Corp. Model M15-A1 rifle, said U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. He also reportedly had four grenades, though the powder was not in them. He was indicted near the end of July.

Pelham Police Department detective Lieutenant Scott Tucker said local authorities and federal officials worked together to investigate Kodirov, though federal authorities ultimately took charge of the case. Kodirov was arrested by police at a motel after Tucker and Pelham police said he received the M15 machine gun from an undercover agent.

Pelham Police Department detective Lieutenant Scott Tucker said local authorities and federal officials worked together to investigate Kodirov, though federal authorities ultimately took charge of the case. Kodirov was arrested by police at a motel after Tucker and Pelham police said he received the M15 machine gun from an undercover agent.

Attorney Vance commended Lt. Tucker and the Pelham Police Department, as well as the federal authorities, for thwarting a potential attack just weeks before the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11. The indictment did not involve terrorism charges, though sources said Kodirov had expressed support for Islamic extremists and often viewed Jihadist websites.

“I commend the FBI, Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Leeds and Pelham police departments, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and all members of the Northern District of Alabama’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for their outstanding work,” Vance wrote, according to the Pelham Reporter.

If a person is convicted of threatening the president, the sentence is a maximum of five years for each threat. That means Kodirov could face up to 20 years in prison, with each weapons charge potentially adding another 10 years.

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Recent legal troubles faced by online poker gaming website Full Tilt Poker have brought the country’s focused attention onto the laws in tact regarding legal poker play. The Alderney Gaming Control Commission is in the midst of a hearing to decide whether to rescind Full Tilt Poker’s licenses, after suspending them in June. The hearing has been adjourned to another day, with throngs of online players eager to hear the decision.

Full Tilt has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme and cheating players out of winnings totaling millions of dollars. If these accusations are proven to be true, the Department of Justice could seize all of the website’s assets. Rumor has it that the online poker juggernaut is short some $330 million, and that owners and directors of Full Tilt accrued approximately $444 million from the company for their own use between 2007 and 2011.

The AGCC hearings have been top-secret. The Full Tilt representatives say the site should be treated as more of a problematic bank than investment fraud, though they admit money might have been mismanaged.

The case has poker websites proceeding with caution. Once an outlet for people who wanted to play poker without worrying about state illegal gambling laws, the hubbub over Full Tilt could give some players the incentive to rally up the neighbors for a good old basement poker game.

But it wasn’t long ago that live poker players were the ones looking over their shoulders, in Pelham, Ala., after a police raid of a large, organized but unauthorized poker tournament. Pelham Police Department detective Lieutenant Scott Tucker served a search warrant for a tournament that involved upwards of six dozen players and thousands of dollars, with some players joining the competition from outside counties in Alabama.

This particular case could be illegal because of the multiple counties involved, said Tucker. He assured recreational poker players that the case was clearly exceptional because of the number of players, amount of money and different counties represented involved. At the time, Tucker and Pelham made national poker website headlines when players were concerned about their own poker games.

Those same gaming sites have called out Full Tilt poker for being a Ponzi scheme. Forums and social media sites have been uproarious against Full Tilt-some players have more than $160 million credited to their Full Tilt Poker accounts and have yet to see a cent. Complicating the case is the fact that online poker can involve players from around the world, not just the county or nation.

Talk of a Ponzi scheme has increased the risk that Full Tilt will lose its license to operate outside the U.S. permanently, which effectively could ruin its U.S. business as well, because of the damage of its reputation.

Full Tilt has sought a 30-day extension from AGCC in order to develop its case to reacquire its license so that it can show the regulators that it has a plan from new owners that will take it forward in a positive direction.

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