Hide your children, poker players!  That's the warning issued by Tom Somach upon learning that poker pro Shahram Sheikhan has just been spotted on the World Series of Poker circuit in Vegas this week.

Sheikhan, you might recall, once served nine months for sexual battery and annoyance or molestation of a child

The manager of a downtown youth clothing and amenities store at the time of his arrest, Sheikan ran a "diversity" store catering to teenagers with items such as clothing, backpacks, and posters. The teen victims were 17 and 16, respectively.

"I felt like a piece of meat," one girl testified. "We felt we should stand up for ourselves. I had nightmares about him, and I didn't want other people to have to go through this."

He did not deny trial testimony that he tried to persuade the two girls to have sex in exchange for a skateboard, but said he was kidding.

"It was just a big joke and that's why I'm sitting in this hole." Sheikan said. "I am not a criminal. I'm a businessman. I don't prey on young girls."

Though the event took place in 1995 and one could - by this time - give Sheikhan the benefit of the doubt by presuming him a "reformed man", this wasn't the last time the poker pro would find himself on the wrong side of the law.

In 1999, Sheikhan played a role in the accidental death of a 91-year old Las Vegas woman.  

“One of the two deaths attributed to the storm was the result of an auto accident just after 11 a.m., when a car hydroplaned in the northwest part of the valley. A Mercedes, driven by Las Vegan Shahram Sheikhan, 29, was traveling at speeds too fast for the slick road conditions on Buffalo Drive just north of Charleston Boulevard, Metro Police said. The Mercedes slid across the raised center median of southbound Buffalo and struck a Lincoln traveling in the northbound lanes, police said. The female passenger, 91-year-old Dorathy Ohriner of Las Vegas, died at the scene, the Clark County Coroner’s office said today. The Lincoln was driven by Neil Ohriner, 66, also of Las Vegas, police said Sheikhan and Mr. Ohriner were taken to University Medical Center with moderate injuries.”

Last year, Immigration officials arrested Sheikhan at his Las Vegas home.  It seems the poker pro arrived in the US at the age of 9 and authorities have deemed him "unfit to remain in the US".

"This individual was targeted for ICE arrest because of his criminal history," Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the Las Vegas Review Journal. "ICE has an ongoing initiative called Operation Predator targeting individuals, including foreign nationals, who prey upon and sexually exploit children.

"We want to see him removed from the United States."

With all the negative publicity he has received recently, one would think that professional poker player and convicted child molester Shahram “Poker Pervert” Sheikhan would be keen on keeping a low profile, Somach writes.  Not so.

He’s at the WSOP at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and has participated in at least two WSOP tournaments so far–Event #18, a $5,000 buy-in lowball tourney, and Event #33, a $5,000 buy-in stud tourney.

He played poorly and finished out of the money in both tournaments.

Late last year, following protests, Sheikhan was denied participation in a Los Angeles Police poker tournament.

NBC apparently dropped the ball in conducting a background check on Sheikhan when they cast him in their late night poker program "Poker After Dark".  NBC, which produces the popular "To Catch a Predator" series, may not have been aware of Sheikhan's dark past.  A producer for "Poker After Dark" told Gambling911.com that Sheikhan "was a friend".

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher CCostigan@CostiganMedia.com

Originally published June 21, 2008 9:40 pm EST