Former Foxwoods Dealer Cops Out To Ripping Off Casino For $100,000!

Source: Greg Smith, Norwich Bulletin.

A blackjack and baccarat dealer from Mohegan Sun Casino has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge stemming from his involvement in a sophisticated card cheating scheme involving more than 30 people at numerous casinos across the country, U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy announced today.

Jesus Rodriguez, 40, of Grove Avenue in Groton, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in New Haven. In 2005, while employed as a card dealer at Mohegan Sun Casino, Rodriguez accepted bribes to aid a criminal organization called the “Tran Organization,” which is based in San Diego, steal more than $100,000 by cheating at blackjack and mini-baccarat at the casino. Rodriguez admitted to accepting bribes to perform “false shuffles,” during card games, creating “slugs” of unshuffled cards and allowing a co-conspirator to track the order of cards and bet on the known order of the cards being dealt.

Rodriguez faces a maximum of five years in prison and fine of up to $250,000 at sentencing April 7 before U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven.

More than 30 people, including Rodriguez, were charged in the Southern District of California as a result of the investigation, which was led by the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. The cheating schemes occurred at more than two dozen casinos in the U.S. and Canada. The investigation involved the FBI’s San Diego Field Office; the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division; the San Diego Sheriff’s Department; and the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Gambling Control with assistance from federal, state, tribal and foreign authorities.

The case is being prosecuted in the District of Connecticut by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. McGarry.