Westmoreland County attorney Larry Burns refuses to fold and insists his for-profit poker tournaments are legal in Pennsylvania.

But it wasn’t in the cards Tuesday for him to get back more than $11,000 in cash confiscated by police this summer.

Attorney Larry Burns told a judge yesterday that money he earned from organizing Texas Hold’em tournaments in Seward and Hempfield was not the proceeds of an illegal activity.

The 63-year-old Burns was charged earlier this year with misdemeanor gambling counts for running tournaments for a profit. Authorities confiscated about $11,000 in cash during raids of the Seward Volunteer Fire Department and Burns’ Derry Township home in August.

Prosecutors agreed to return to Burns about $2,000 in cash seized from his bedroom as well as nine books about poker and gambling.

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Author Contact Info: Rich Cholodofsky, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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