Pair sentenced for casino scheme

A Spokane teenager and a 41-year-old woman who is his neighbor both received federal prison sentences Thursday for using computer-made counterfeit tickets to steal $101,381 from Northern Quest casino.

The scheme, which lasted for six months last year, involved simultaneously inserting two or more identical counterfeit tickets into pay-out machines, confusing computer-controlled payment systems, court documents say.

The activities of Wade Hendricksen and Renee Lehmann ultimately were caught on video tape by security cameras, prompting an investigation by the Washington State Gambling Commission and tribal security officials.

The manufacturer of the lottery-style gaming devices, used in several casinos, also became involved and implemented changes and new safeguards, authorities said.

Hendricksen and Lehmann, who live in adjoining houses in the 5700 block of East 25th, were arrested on Oct. 15 by state gambling investigators.

Those state charges were dismissed when a federal grand jury late last year indicted Hendricksen and Lehmann each on four counts of theft from a tribal gaming establishment.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Shea said such sophisticated white-collar crime mandated jail time for both Hendricksen, 19, and Lehmann, even though they could have avoided prison under sentencing guidelines.

The judge described the tribe’s loss as “an extraordinary amount,” and ordered Hendricksen and Lehmann to be jointly responsible for full restitution.

When state gambling investigators searched Lehmann’s home last October, they found and seized $11,114 in cash, believed to be winnings from the counterfeit ticket scheme.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed sought forfeiture of those funds as part of the plea agreement, but defense attorney Tracy Collins, representing Lehmann, asked that it be applied to the restitution.

The judge agreed, ordering the seized cash returned to the casino, with a corresponding reduction in the amount of restitution.

Both Hendricksen and Lehmann pleaded guilty in March to single counts of theft from a tribal gaming establishment, a federal felony.

As part of separate plea bargains, three other similar theft counts were dismissed against each defendant.

“You’re a mother, a wife and a thief,” Shea sternly told Lehmann. “Harsh words, but that’s what you are.”

The judge said besides stealing a substantial amount of money in the scheme, Lehmann damaged her image as a role model for her two sons.

“For boys 8 and 11, it is very difficult for them to understand this,” Shea said. “They are on the threshold of juvenile delinquency. It’s regrettable you put them in that spot by your behavior.”

“I wronged them, and I have wronged the law,” Lehmann responded to the judge. “I wouldn’t do it again.”

Lehmann told the court that she and Hendricksen had stopped their counterfeit ticket scheme at the Airway Heights casino before they were identified and arrested.

Lehmann was sentenced to one month in prison, followed by five months of home confinement.

Hendricksen, now enrolled at Spokane Falls Community College, must serve two months in a federal prison, followed by four months of confinement at a halfway house, where he will be allowed to leave to attend school.

Both defendants will be allowed to self-report to federal correctional facilities once they are assigned. The judge also ordered mental health evaluation for both defendants and said they must stay out of gambling establishments during three years of supervised release.

Hendricksen’s attorney, Christian Phelps, told the court his client now realizes he engaged in a criminal activity that was “industrial-strength stupid.”

“He got caught up in the romance of it,” Phelps said of the bogus tickets that Hendricksen manufactured on a scanner and computer at Lehmann’s home. The pair both used the tickets to collect winnings at Northern Quest between April and October 2003.

Hendricksen’s mother died when he was 15, and his father’s job takes him away from home for long periods of time, Phelps said.

For the past four years, Hendrickson has spent significant amounts of time living with Lehmann, his neighbor, Phelps said.

A federal probation officer told the court that Hendricksen and Lehmann had engaged in “an unhealthy relationship,” and she urged the court to require the defendants to have no further contact with each other.

“I don’t know how I got into this,” Hendricksen said, telling the court he was “sorry about what I’ve done to Ms. Lehmann.”

“Well,” responded the judge, “Ms. Lehmann is 41 years old, and you’re 19.”

Shea said there had been a certain “victimization” of Hendricksen by the older woman.