Pa. casino taken for $419K in 'free slots' conspiracy

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Pa. casino taken for $419K in 'free slots' conspiracy

By all accounts, it was an inside job at the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Luzerne County, Pa., where a combination of two casino employees and one frequent slots gambler allegedly added up to nearly $900,000 in total losses on the slots.

The Citizens Voice newspaper reports that the casino's former vice president of player development charged Tuesday with conspiring with a cocktail server and a frequent gambler to defraud the casino.

According to the state police Bureau of Gaming, the trio used $478,100 in free slot play to generate $418,793 in winnings between May 2, 2014, and April 4, 2015, the newspaper writes.

Charged in the case are: Casino vice president Robert Joseph Pellegrini, 50; beverage server Rochelle Poszeluznyj, 37; and frequent patron Mark Joseph Heltzel, 51, of Dallas, Pa.

Together, they face 177 counts including theft, identity theft, criminal conspiracy, winning by fraud, computer trespassing and misapplying trusted property, the newspaper reports.

Here's how the alleged conspiracy worked, according to the newspaper report:

Poszeluznyj collected players' card numbers and PIN numbers as she served drinks. She passed the numbers along to Pellegrini, who in turn created duplicate cards and added free slot money on each one before giving them to Heltzel, police said.

Heltzel then used the cards at the casino's slot machines and split his winnings with his two co-conspirators.

The investigation, which dates to April 2015, was tipped off by a table dealer, Matthew Crane, who told officials of an ongoing scheme to defraud the casino, the newspaper adds.

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