Girl, 8, molested outside Pa. casino as her relative gambled inside
A 65-year-old man is facing a felony charge after police say he admitted molesting an 8-year-old girl outside a Pa. casino as the girl’s relative gambled inside. It took years for the case to catch up with the accused suspect, Mateo Mejia, 65, of Scranton. The incident took place in the summer of 2016, when an un-named relative of the girl had Mejia drive the pair to the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino. Mejia was supposed to watch the girl in the car while the relative went inside and gambled. The relative was supposedly babysitting the child while her mother worked, police in Plains Township, Luzerne County, told the newspaper.
Gambling company sued by customers who claim they were cheated out of big payouts
Fourteen gamblers are taking legal action against an online gambling company for allegedly refusing to pay them their full jackpot payouts, according to New Jersey regulators. In one federal lawsuit, filed by Lisa Piluso of Pennsylvania, the gambler claims the company did not pay a $100,000 jackpot she says she had won while playing a slots game on her phone. The company allegedly maintained there was “a bug” in the product. Thirteen other gamblers have claimed they were not given their correct earnings from the gambling company either, regulators said. The “Capital Gains” slot game, played by Piluso on Oct. 2 in 2020, was run on an online platform by Caesars Interactive New Jersey, and the game is manufactured by American Gaming Systems, based in Las Vegas. Piluso’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Camden, accuses the gaming company of consumer fraud and other wrongful actions related to the jackpot prize. Neither Caesars casino nor its online division were named as defendants in the suit.
Presque Isle Downs and Casino fined $45,000 for violating alcohol provision of COVID-19 order
Presque Isle Downs and Casino was fined $45,000 Wednesday for allowing a patron to drink on the gaming floor in violation of a statewide order that prohibited bars from selling alcohol unless it was served with a meal. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday approved consent agreements between its Office of Enforcement Counsel and three casino operators resulting in a total of $150,000 in fines. The statewide order — issued on July 16, 2020 and lifted on April 4 — was meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. It was among several mitigation efforts put in place as restaurants and bars were able to resume indoor service.
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Financial Director Stole $3M, Blew it at Harrah’s
The former financial director of Kappa Alpha Psi, one of America’s largest Black college fraternities, has admitted to embezzling nearly $3 million from the organization, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Prosecutors say Curtis D. Anderson blew most of the money he stole at Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack. According to court filings, the 58-year-old Claymont, Del. resident began siphoning money from the fraternity in June 2012. Anderson’s MO was simply to write checks from the Kappa Alpha Psi check book to himself or to others whose signatures he faked. He would then exchange them for cash at Santander or Wells Fargo banks. In all, he is accused of cashing 78 bogus checks over a six-year period.
UAW Member to Appear in Court in Case of $2M Embezzlement
Timothy Edmunds has been “temporarily detained” for his suspect involvement of misappropriating $2 million. Investigators were led to Edmunds after finding out that some $142,000 had been redirected to his union debit credit with $30,000 worth of withdrawals at ATMs from 2018 through 2020. The ATMs withdrawals were done at Greektown Casino. Between 2016 and 2020, the investigation alleged, Edmunds had delivered buy-ins north of $1 million, and the total amount of gambling done exceeded $16 million in the four-year span. Handling such amounts should have alerted authorities much sooner, but Edmunds, the investigation claims, was smarter than that. He knew that if he cashed out more than a given amount, he would be reported on the Currency Transaction Report, which is obligatory under the Bank Secrecy Act. Cashing $10,000 of chips at a time, Edmunds seemed to avoid being detected.
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