ATKINSON, N.H. (AP) – A former sports bar owner has been charged with running a bookmaking operation from his home, where a former police officer committed suicide four years ago.

Walter Jarosz, 47, faces six counts of illegal gambling and one charge of falsifying physical evidence, according to indictments unsealed earlier this week.

Jarosz is free on bail. He and his lawyer, Gerard LaFlamme of Haverhill, did not return calls seeking comment from The Eagle Tribune.

An undercover state trooper placed six bets with Jarosz from March 25 to April 5, according to court records. The bets ranged from $55 to $220 each.

Rockingham County prosecutors said the bets were placed on college or professional sports games. The dates of the bets coincided with “March Madness,” the NCAA college basketball tournament.

When state police raided Jarosz’ home later in April, he destroyed his betting ledger by dropping it into a bucket of water, said Assistant County Attorney Matthew Allen. The ledger was on “flash paper,” a type of rice paper that dissolves quickly in water. That led to the destruction of physical evidence charge.

Jarosz formerly owned Diamante’s Bar in downtown Haverhill, Mass., but sold the business in the past year.

Four years ago, the state attorney general’s office identified Jarosz’s house as the place where a former Haverhill police detective, Michael Fasulo, shot and killed himself on July 2, 2000.

Fasulo was the son of retired Haverhill police Chief Daniel Fasulo. An autopsy showed the younger man had cocaine and other drugs in his system when he died at age 42. Police found a small handgun at the scene.

Atkinson police Chief Philip Consentino said he had asked officers to keep an eye on Jarosz’s house since then, but was unaware of the betting operation or the undercover investigation by state police.

“We knew there was some kind of problem up there when that gentleman shot himself,” Consentino said. “We had an idea that something was going on.”