Video poker machines found in store that was closed by state

THOMSON - Dozens of video poker machines were seized Thursday from one of four convenience stores that were shut down this week in a sales-tax investigation. <br> <br> State revenue officials found 39 video poker machines in an unused portion of a Bryant&#39;s Food & Fuel store in Thomson, said Mike Seigler, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation&#39;s Augusta office. <br> <br> Bryant&#39;s company president Joel H. Bryant is facing a criminal investigation over half a million dollars in sales taxes that weren&#39;t forwarded to the state from two Bryant&#39;s stores in Augusta and two in Thomson. Now, authorities will examine whether to charge him with illegally possessing the machines, Seigler said. <br> <br> Bryant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. <br> <br> Officers from the GBI and the McDuffie County Sheriff&#39;s Office seized the machines and transported them to an undisclosed storage unit. Police will keep the machines pending a judge&#39;s condemnation order, and they will likely be destroyed.