A million-dollar scheme turned out bad for a couple from Florida. The two tampered with the gaming machines and were caught and given prison sentences by the federal judge. All of this action took place in West Miami-Dade at the Miccosukee Resort.
41-year-old man, Lester Lavin, Florida based was a supervisor at the Miccosukee casino as well as a video gaming machine technician. He pleaded guilty in December to plotting with three colleagues to come up with fake credit vouchers that would help them cash in $5 million from the casino. The vouchers could be swapped for cash at the gaming venue.
The US District Judge Darrin P. Gayle sentenced him to more than four years in prison. The sentence implicates him in computer fraud, theft, and the stealing of money. In fact, Anisleydi Verge Hermida stated that she assisted her boyfriend in money laundering and pleaded guilty. However, her sentence is lighter and will serve six months in jail.
Other People Charged in the $5 Million Scam
Leonard Betancourt, Michel Aleu, and Yohander Jorrin Melhen who were Lavin’s colleagues said they were guilty of the crimes committed. Also, all three of their girlfriends, Yusmary Shirley Duran, Maria Del Pilar Aleu, and Milagros Acosta were in on the $5 million scam. The group is still waiting to be charged.
The ex-staff would act as if the gaming machine has a problem and would pretend to fix it while pressing false amounts according to the prosecutors. These were not the small amount which they would coin in but rather thousands of dollars. The machines normally would take out credit vouchers that were taken to the casino cage by people who were part of the conspiracy but were not employees.
The gaming machines were bought and borrowed from PlayAGS in Nevada. However, the business was not implicated in the case whatsoever.
Covering Their Tracks
We are also interested to know how the criminals operated and were able to hide their steps. The group would remove the history of the untrue coin in amount from the gaming machine by cleaning the RAM. The ordeal started in 2011 January, right up until 2015 May making them $5.3 million in the long run.
The million-dollar question remains, how did they spend the money?
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