Third worker accused of theft from casino

A third North Side casino employee in less than two weeks has been arrested on charges of stealing money from the business.

More than $235,000 has been stolen from Classic Rock Casino at Lilac Lanes, 1112 E. Magnesium Road, since 2003 in separate incidents, according to police and Washington State Gambling Commission reports.

“We’re just working stiffs, so this is very devastating to me and my wife,” said Dan Kukuk, the business’s majority shareholder and general manager.

Barbara Ramelow, who was the casino’s controller, is accused of stealing more than $201,000 from the business in 2003 and 2004. She was booked into the Spokane County Jail on Tuesday on three counts of money laundering and one count each of first-degree theft and forgery.

Her arrest Tuesday happened just days after her husband, Robert Ramelow, was arrested in connection with an unrelated theft of almost $20,000 from the casino. Robert Ramelow was the business’s chief operating officer.

The first in the series of arrests occurred April 11 after Timothy L. Quaschnick, a security officer at the casino, was accused of stealing $15,000 from the casino.

Kukuk said the loss of money from the Barbara Ramelow case was noticed by the business’s accounting firm in September. The state gambling commission got involved in the investigation in October. Kukuk said he does not expect any of the missing money from the laudering case to be returned.

Barbara and Robert Ramelow remained at the Spokane County Jail on Tuesday night on $100,000 bonds.

Robert Ramelow is Kukuk’s stepson. Barbara Ramelow lost her job at the casino in January during the theft investigation, but Robert remained employed until this month.

“The emotional trauma that has been going on, I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life,” Kukuk said. “It happened and the only thing we can do is make the best of it.”