East Bay politicians are fast retreating from endorsements of a sprawling new bingo hall and veterans center in Richmond, after Bay Area News Group unearthed the criminal history of the man who heads the American Legion post that fronts the operation.

The commander of Post 875, San Francisco preacher Eddie Welbon, is a twice-convicted felon whose crimes include a bingo permit kickback scheme in Oakland.

Welbon, 70, was sentenced to three years probation and six months of community service for attempting to bribe the leader of a charity that sought bingo permits in 1986 through the city's Commission of Public Charities. Also convicted was the Rev. Whitney Lester, a commission member. The men were caught on tape soliciting an estimated $20,000-per-month bribe for Lester's support of future permits.

Later, Welbon served a 12-month federal prison sentence for mail fraud and money laundering in refinancing the property of a San Francisco church he led, then using most of the $110,000 in proceeds to pay off personal debts and fund a charity he ran, without the church board's knowledge.

Welbon's lawyer said he suffered from years of mental illness from his time in the Air Force, including "delusions often related to grandiosity," court records show. Welbon, who is black, faced extreme racial hatred in the military and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder "with psychotic features," his lawyer argued.

Welbon also has been involved in many state and federal lawsuits. Among them, Disabled American Veterans sued him successfully in 2003 to stop using its name. Welbon, the lawsuit said, had been kicked out of a 2,800-member San Francisco chapter of the veterans group after he became commander and shut out other members from the office. He refused to give up his title and used the group's name to solicit money for a legal-defense fund, court records show.

Post 875, established in 2003 for African-American veterans, claims 70 dues-paying members. An official with the American Legion state headquarters said each post operates independently and the department has no authority to decide where a post may be based.

But the judge advocate for the American Legion's statewide department said he met Thursday with Welbon after learning of his history. Charles Waters said he ordered Welbon to adhere to Legion bylaws and produce frequent reports of the post's activities.

"I can assure you if that doesn't happen, I'm a bulldog, and he's on a chain," Waters said. Among the remedies, Waters said, is removing a veteran from the Legion.

"We're going to give him the benefit of the doubt. We're hoping they succeed," he said. "If something goes sour, we're not going to sit around and let it happen."

Several calls to Welbon went unreturned; a recorded message said his voice mail was full.

Leaders of the bingo hall sold it as a way to offer needed veterans services in West Contra Costa, supplementing the county's work. They won wide support for the 32,000-square-foot hall in a Marina Bay building that had housed temporary City Hall offices. Marina Bay Bingo, they said, would fund a one-stop resource center to help service members transition home.

For the March 31 opening, county Supervisor John Gioia, of Richmond, shot out invitations emblazoned with the county seal. U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, sent a letter wishing good luck to Legion Post 875. A representative for State Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, was there, and several Richmond council members spoke. Last week, the Richmond City Council scrapped limits on how often a charity can run bingo in the city.

Now, they are suffering ribbon-cutter's remorse.

"At the least, it's embarrassing," Gioia said.

"When someone representing an American Legion post who is moving into a large building says, 'Look, I want to work on expanding veterans services,' the initial reaction is to take them at their word and say, 'What can we do to partner?' " he said.

Gregory Cantrell, the public face for the new facility and its executive director, told Bay Area News Group that he resigned a few days after the event, saying it wasn't clear that his plans for veterans services would come to fruition.

"Some things that were supposed to happen program-wise didn't happen. It wasn't being taken care of as a priority," Cantrell said. He described Welbon as a "figurehead," in the bingo operation, but acknowledged that, ultimately, Post 875 controlled the money.

"We were supposed to have operational control in order for us to pay the bills. That's where I had issues," said Cantrell, who claimed he knew nothing about Welbon's criminal history. "People would show up as part of the organization, I never knew who they were, what their role was."

State law allows charity bingo sponsored only by nonprofit agencies, mobile home park associations and senior groups, and run by volunteers. Critics and several news reports have highlighted a loosely regulated industry in which some bingo operators have set up shell nonprofit agencies.

Cantrell said he had been searching for nonprofit partners to launch a bingo operation somewhere in the East Bay. He said his former brother-in-law and his partner in the operation, Tony Martin, introduced him to Welbon two years ago. They hoped Marina Bay Bingo would net $5,000 to $7,000 a day. Martin could not be reached.

Richmond's bingo ordinance does not require background checks for operators, only a license application. City Councilman and veteran Tom Butt, who spoke at the ribbon-cutting, said he may look at toughening the ordinance.

"(Councilman) Nat Bates was all over this. John Gioia was all over it. I figured it was sort of their project and they were promoting it and they knew something about it," Butt said. "On the surface this looked like a legitimate effort to raise money to assist veterans. That's what they said they were going to do. "... For all I know that's what they're going to do."

Bates said he still supports expanding the days bingo charities can operate, but that he may look at background checks, after learning of Welbon's history.

"Mr. Welbon projected himself as a legitimate operator that had ties with the American Legion, which I have a lot of respect for because I am a veteran. You just take it at face value."

Among the local charities that have spoken with the Marina Bay hall about bingo is the Richmond Police Activities League.

"They presented an idea "... that we could come over, bring a small group of volunteers to help out with the operation, and then we would receive a percentage of the profit for the night," said executive director Larry Lewis.

A deal now was unlikely, the police corporal said.

Staff writer Katherine Tam contributed to this story.