OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The 255-page affidavit detailing the case against suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez was released by state prosecutors Friday evening.
The affidavit applies only to Lopez and his co-defendants, not his wife, Robin Severance-Lopez.
Investigators have said Marcos Lopez and his co-defendants operated an illegal gambling enterprise for years. They are all charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Robin Severance-Lopez is only charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Marcos Lopez has pleaded not guilty to his charges.
Everyone in the case except Zhang has been arrested and bailed out of jail.
Text Messages
Text messages detail Lopez’s alleged involvement in the criminal enterprise, including introducing some of the co-conspirators to each other, and shedding light on the protection he allegedly offered the operation.
One such message sent from Lopez to one of the co-conspirators - from before he was elected sheriff - states “no matter what the outcome is when I win we start the first internet amusement cafe in Osceola County. You will be safe and not have to worry about anything because I will be your sheriff.”
The messages also show deputies showed up at one of the gambling clubs in 2022. A photo sent to Lopez, accompanied by a text saying “your deputies is at the eclipse.” Lopez responded by saying “let me know if they say something. You should have no issues.”
The messages also show Lopez discussed payments with his alleged co-conspirators multiple times, scheduled multiple meetings with them, and took photos with the co-conspirators too.
One message sent from Lopez says “also remember we made an agreement with Kate to pay me some money for the connection starting December 1st, how are we going to do it?”
Investigators say in total, Lopez received between $600,000 and $700,000 for his role in the enterprise.
There are pages and pages of text messages and emails in the arrest affidavit. They show Lopez also played a role in trying to expand the alleged illegal businesses. Some of the messages were about scouting new locations with the co-conspirators.
Timeline
It all started with a tip in 2019, before Lopez became sheriff.
In 2020,Lopez won the race for Osceola County sheriff.
Investigators started looking into Krishna Deokaran for ties to illegal gambling. He agreed to be an informant.
In 2022, he opened the Eclipse Social Club.
The investigation heated up in 2023 with investigators conducting several undercover stings at multiple clubs with gambling machines.
In 2024, a judge signed five warrants to place tracking devices on Deokaran’s vehicles. They tracked him making several trips to and from multiple clubs.
That same year, he exchanged money with undercover agents.
Lopez was arrested in June 2025, along with others connected to the case.
How it unraveled
This case came together on witness testimony.
After investigators got their tip, conducted a few undercover operations where they gambled and got receipts and obtained documents connected to Eclipse and other properties, they quickly got the group to turn on itself.
They started with the manager of the operation, Sharon Fedrick, who admitted in an interview she collected the money, paid the bills and identified the leader of the operation, Krishna Deokaran.
Deokaran, who later served as the main informant, initially told investigators he was an innocent landlord. The story fell apart when he was confronted with pictures from sting operations, the affidavit showed.
Another hole was blown through his claims when in the middle of his first interview, Sheldon Wetherholt, identified as the real estate expert, called him. Placed on speakerphone, he contradicted many of Deokaran’s claims.
Lopez became part of the expanding operation in two ways. First, he gave Deokaran a “special deputy” badge that Deokaran would frequently flash as he claimed he had access to a patrol car.
Deokaran was also known to brag about his friendship with Lopez and how Lopez was protecting the operation -- a tidbit Fedrick was happy to supply during her questioning.
Lopez was the one person left out of all of this.
At one point, Lopez told Deokaran that Gov. Ron DeSantis contacted him, asking about which game rooms were being investigated in Osceola County. It was a question Lopez could not answer.
Just two and a half weeks after Lopez was arrested, his estranged wife was also put in handcuffs. The warrant says that Robin Severance-Lopez had a cleaning company. Investigators say it was created to collect payments to her husband.
When confronted by investigators about her knowledge of the players, she said no.
But they had pictures and messages proving she did.
She also allegedly made large deposits after Lopez’s arrest.
The documents also state Lopez said he needed money from his partners - now co-defendants - for his campaign.
Investigators say his campaign manager, Ruben DeJesus, did take money from at least one of them to help him in his election.
Full affidavit below
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