OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez appeared in court Friday in Lake County, where a judge granted him a $1 million bond.

Lopez is facing serious charges of racketeering linked to a multi-million dollar illegal gambling operation. Prosecutors claim he has been part of this operation since August 2019, during his tenure as a deputy.

If he posts bond, Lopez will be required to wear a GPS monitor and surrender both his firearms and passport.

His next court appearance is scheduled for June 30.

Lopez faces charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering.

In 2023, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that a collaborative investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement uncovered “a criminal network running an illegal gambling enterprise across Central Florida, with significant activity in Lake and Osceola counties.”

The organization generated more than $21 million in illicit proceeds, Uthmeier said.

The state’s attorney general stated in a press release that after Lopez was elected sheriff in November 2020, he continued to support the illegal organization’s interests and received a share of the gambling profits for his involvement.

“Initially engaging the operation for campaign contributions and personal payments, Sheriff Lopez played a multifaceted role in expanding and protecting this illegal enterprise, using his office to shield the enterprise from law enforcement,” Uthmeier said in the release.

More individuals are expected to be arrested “in the coming days” for their ties to the organization and involvement in the operation, according to Uthmeier.

“As law enforcement, we are held to higher standards of integrity and character than other professions,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass said in the release. “This case revealed that Lopez violated the trust and integrity expected of him as the duly elected sheriff of Osceola County. Florida’s sheriffs are leaders for not only their office and deputies, but for their community and the citizens that elected them. I want to thank our agents and analysts who worked diligently on this case with HSI and the Office of Statewide Prosecution to make sure that law enforcement officers are held to the standards expected of them.”

Uthmeier said Senior Assistant Statewide Prosecutors Colleen Monroe and Panagiota Papakos will prosecute Lopez and others allegedly part of the operation in Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. Additionally, he said the investigation remains ongoing.

In an executive order, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Lopez is suspended from public office, adding that Christopher A. Blackmon is appointed, effective Thursday, to fill the position of sheriff for the duration of Lopez’s suspension.