Former Fire Battallion Chief Pleads No Contest to Gambling Charges

Former Battallion Chief James Anthony Selvitella Jr. pleaded no contest to charges of misdemeanor sports betting yesterday.

He and four other defendants were charged with running an illegal gambling operation using a 1-800 telephone number.  The operation took hundreds of thousands of dollars of bets a day, said Stephen M. Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County.

Two other defendants, William James Kirkpatrick and Louis Anthony Kristovich, also pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charges. 

They and Selvitelli will have to serve 18 months probation and perform 30 hours of public service.  Selvitelli will also have to attend two sessions a week of Gamblers Anonymous for a year and refrain from gambling as a condition of his probation.

Defendant Christopher Burke Mesa pleaded no contest to felony sports gambling.  Judge Lisa Novak sentenced him to 90 days in county jail and three years probation.

The final defendant, Michael Joseph Cooper, did not enter a plea and will return to court on Dec. 7.

Selvitelli solicited bets from other firefighters and ran the bets for the organization, Wagstaffe said.  The operation was discovered in the course of a personnel investigation into a dispute between Selvitelli and another firefighter, according to Wagstaffe.