Woman questions crime
A former North Carolina community activist and city council candidate facing multiple charges over an alleged online gambling sideline has questioned if her transgressions warranted such actions.
officers arrested Quarla Blackwell, 51, at her home last week
Kinston Police Department (KPD) officers arrested Quarla Blackwell, 51, at her home last week and charged her with four and two counts apiece of money laundering and gambling, respectively.
KPD investigators allege Blackwell ran an illegal online casino operation via Facebook. The games in question, the arrest warrant detailed, include a fish table game “in which players wager money or credits to activate virtual weapons or projectiles that target animated fish or objects displayed on a screen.”
Fishy games?
“As long as I’ve been playing on these fish tables now it’s a crime,” Blackwell posted on Facebook after her arrest. Warrants also state the fifty-one-year-old promoted the server-based digital games. While online sports betting is legal in North Carolina, digital casino games are illegal in the state except via tribal casinos.
grimy ass police”
Blackwell, however, let rip with some choice words for North Carolina law enforcement, calling them “grimy ass police.” The ex-activist added from prison: “And to the judge that ordered it F**K YOU… see y’all Christmas Day. I’m built for this s**t!!”
A civic news release by Kinston town hall in September before her arrest perhaps preempted her Christmas verbal attack: “Please use caution – Blackwell has a history of assaults (including against Law Enforcement).”
Known to police
The September civic alert on Blackwell came for a charge of perjury and making false statements. Detectives determined she committed perjury knowingly when she submitted false information on her election paperwork for her Kinston City Council candidacy.
Blackwell had said her probation for an unnamed felony conviction had ended in 2025 instead of 2028.
According to the KPD, the gambling and money laundering investigation is ongoing.
