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CHARLESTON, S.C. --

An assistant prosecutor for Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties was among 27 people arrested in a raid on a Hanahan house where people were playing poker, police say.

Don Sorenson was charged with unlawful games and betting. He submitted his resignation to chief prosecutor David Pascoe. But Pascoe told The (Charleston) Post and Courier that he is suspending Sorenson without pay until he decides what the 13-year veteran's future will be with the office.

A home telephone listing for Sorenson could not be found Sunday.

"This is a magistrate level offense," Charleston County sheriff's Maj. John Clark told The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg. "I do not have a court date and time yet."

The arrests Friday night were the result of a 10-month investigation. Officers executed a search warrant and seized more than $40,000, Clark said.

Investigators said the Hanahan house was hosting a well-organized poker and gambling operation with paid pit bosses and dealers. Poker is illegal under a 200-year-old state law that prohibits dice and card games.

"This isn't boys' poker night out," Clark said. "This isn't just friends getting together and playing poker for a quarter or a dollar. This was an organized poker operation in which they had people in positions who were acting as employees. They were being paid to do their jobs."

The raid was at the home of Martin and Dawn Reyes, who told The Post and Courier that her husband began hosting the games about eight months ago. Reyes said the players were friends and her husband wasn't paid.

While she is taking the charges seriously, she said the state's antiquated gambling laws need to be changed.

"It's something in the privacy of your own home," she said.

State Rep. Wallace Scarborough, R-Charleston, introduced a bill last year that would make playing poker legal as long as the house does not take a cut. That bill was sent to committee and no action has been taken on it.

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