There have been a handful of developments in the strange case involving Jeremy Francom, the very short-term PokerGO stringer who was tackled and arrested by Las Vegas Metro Police Department officers outside the main entrance to the Rio Convention Center on Thursday, November 4. Francom's arrest triggered a lockdown of the primary parking lot that evening, though the causes for his arrest had nothing to do with the Rio, the WSOP, or PokerGO.
Francom, 40, remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center for his alleged role in a long series of petty thefts, burglaries and robberies committed throughout the Las Vegas metro area. The Spring Valley resident made an initial court appearance on November 6th, and is now scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9 am on Tuesday, November 23rd.
Simplified list of charges faces Francom
The list of charges Francom faces has been simplified and the total bond has been reduced. Francom was initially charged with 20 separate counts on a variety of burglary, robbery, and weapons charges. Each of those carried bond requirements of $20,000 to $40,000, meaning he faced a total of $600,000 in bond. Those charges have since been reduced to 11 counts and combined into a single case with a collective bond of $100,000, though records indicate Francom has been unable to meet that bond and remains in custody. (Update: Francom was able to post reduced bond and was released with electronic monitoring, pending an early-December hearing.)
The 11 remaining counts Francom faces have also been made more uniform in nature. Ten of the 11 counts read as "Robbery, E/DW," while the 11th shows as "Attempted Robbery, E/DW." The "E/DW" is court shorthand for a crime "executed with a deadly weapon."
Neither the LVMPD nor Clark County prosecutors have issued a press statement in connection with the highly unusual arrest, nor is one likely until after the November 23rd preliminary hearing. Francom was tackled on a strip of astroturf serving as part of a WSOP sponsor's display at the foot of the main outdoor stairway leading into the Rio Convention Center. At least five plainclothes officers took part in the arrest. Those undercover officers were part of a larger team including uniformed police that identified and monitored Francom for several hours before the actual arrest. The parking-lot lockdown occurred while police searched Francom's vehicle and identified the suspected device, which then had to be secured.
The "deadly weapon" turned out to be a fake bomb that Francom allegedly used in his earlier string of robberies, perhaps as a form of intimidation or extortion. It's among the details sure to be addressed by prosecutors as the case moves forward. Though the device was fake -- a "toy," in one source's words -- it nonetheless qualified as a way of intimidating the intended victim, resulting in an enhancement to the 11 charges Francom still faces. Each of the 11 remaining counts can result in a 2-to-15-year prison term and a $10,000 fine if Francom is found guilty.
Previous criminal past for Francom
Poker.org can now confirm that Francom has a previous criminal record for somewhat similar crimes. In 2005, he was arrested and pled guilty to charges of felony grand larceny and possession of stolen property. He faced two years or more on the grand larceny charge and another year on the stolen-property count, but received a suspended sentence as part of his plea deal.
In 2007, Francom was arrested and pled guilty to three felony charges: two of robbery and one of burglary. In that case, it appears he served some prison time; Clark County court records indicate that Francom faced a "minimum 30 months to maximum 156 months placement" (meaning a prison term) in the case. The county records do not provide specific incarceration dates. Both the 2005 and 2007 cases also included restitution orders for the stolen assets.
Featured image source: LVMPD.com
