The owner of the Il Villagio, who is awaiting trial on gambling charges, is seeking the return of $340,872 in cash and a gold bar.
Rima Ray, 45, of St. Augustine, is accused of raking in $24 million and preying on elderly customers at Il Villagio, located on U.S. Hwy. 441 in the Sumter County portion of Lady Lake. Last year, State Attorney Bill Gladson detailed the charges in a press conference.
Ray was originally arrested in July driving a Maserati in St. Johns County and carrying the large sum of cash and the gold bar. Ray, who is a female but has facial hair and looks like a man, was re-arrested on Oct. 23 after the discovery of hundreds of slot machines which had not been found in the original raid.
Ray is currently free on $1 million bond and under home confinement.
In a motion filed in Sumter County Court this past month, Ray’s attorney seeks the return of the $340,872 in cash, the gold bar, a USB drive and a notebook. In the motion, Ray’s attorney alleges that his client had been stopped in July in St. Johns County “under false pretenses,” according to the motion…