The wife of former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez is now the sixth person to face charges in a multi-million-dollar illegal gambling enterprise investigation.
Robin Lynn Severance Lopez, 50, was arrested Monday morning and was taken to the same Lake County jail as her husband. Severance Lopez faces a 2nd degree felony charge of conspiracy to use and invest proceeds from a racketeer, according to court records.
On Tuesday, Severance Lopez made her first court appearance. The judge set her bond at $400,000. An additional condition of her pretrial release is that Severance Lopez will not have any contact with her husband.
Severance Lopez’s lawyer argued that the state was alleging her involvement was a single email in 2019 and that it did not show a pattern of repeated offenses, and requested a smaller bond. The email was believed to be with a co-conspirator, Ying Zhang, who was also arrested this month.
The prosecution told the judge the defense had only seen a small sample of evidence and there was more evidence that it had not seen, including witness testimony, bank records, text messages, and email correspondence. The judge did not issue a smaller bail.
The former sheriff, 56, was arrested earlier this month. He faces charges of racketeering related to illegal gambling and is accused of owning and managing an illegal gambling house called “The Eclipse” located on 4561 Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee.
The prosecution alleged that Severance Lopez was a co-conspirator in the racketeering and said evidence points toward the two profiting about $700,000 from the enterprise, acting as partners.
On Monday, investigators found two bank receipts indicating that Severance Lopez deposited two large sums of money a week after her husband was arrested: one deposit of $117,000 and a second of $60,000 two days later.
According to the prosecution, the Lopez couple does not reside together and has been separated since 2019, which is also about the time when investigators believe Lopez started the casino enterprise. A divorce between the two was filed in 2023, but is still pending. Severance Lopez offered a property to her husband to help post his $1 million bond.
Severance Lopez’s lawyer argued that there was no conspiracy between the two and the only current relationship they shared was as “co-parents.” The two have a 15-year-old son who still lives at home with Severance Lopez.
Former Sheriff Lopez is set to appear in court on June 30. Severance Lopez has a court date scheduled for July 21.
