Casino suspects embezzlement
Three technicians at the Coeur d’Alene Casino have lost their jobs and may have left the area as Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department investigators look into suspected embezzlement of nearly $3,000 from slot machines.
“The case is still under investigation. No one has been charged yet,” Jerry Kreig, chief operations officer at the casino, said Thursday. The technicians suspected of pocketing improper payouts, “are no longer employed here” Kreig said.
Casino officials said they intend to “press theft charges against the suspects when they are located,” a sheriff’s report, filed Tuesday, said.
According to the sheriff’s report, casino security officials reviewing data in an electronic tracking system became suspicious that cash was being improperly paid out to employees who were manipulating various electronic codes.
Gregory Sprague, director of surveillance at the casino, and Melvin Gallagher, surveillance sergeant, told sheriff’s officials that they believe the scam worked like this:
Technicians performing routine tests or trouble-shooting on slot machines would use employee codes to generate credits onto a computer card that is used during the testing. But instead of using the cards, known as bench tickets, to handle mock payouts on the machines being tested, the techs would plug the card into other slot machines around the casino, enter the credit available, cash out the machine and then claim their “winnings,” Sprague told sheriff’s officials.
Gallagher said the alleged embezzlement may go back to early March. Sprague said the thefts gradually came to light when security workers matched up employee identification numbers and slot machine ID numbers to track the suspects’ movement around the casino. Gallagher said the electronic tracking system was backed up with video surveillance as the casino security office began investigating the payouts.
Casino officials said they believed the three technicians were conspiring to steal, but they told deputies that the three “denied collusion.”
Seven surveillance reports were turned over to sheriff’s investigators Tuesday. One of the three suspects is shown claiming five payouts totaling $1,721.45. A sixth report details a payout of $790 to a second suspect and the final report shows a payout of $248 to a third suspect.
Gallagher and Sprague told sheriff’s officials the casino has upgraded and tweaked its electronic tracking system to more quickly find suspicious behavior.