5teamparlay
08-21-2005, 07:41 AM
From KVBC LAS VEGAS
First Of Its Kind Bust Nets Two Alleged Gambling Chip Cheaters
April 7, 2005, 08:46 AM
http://kvbc.static.worldnow.com/images/3177652_BG1.jpg
It's a first-of-its-kind bust for cheating at gambling, and we were the first to tell you about it. News 3's Darcy Spears has been following this counterfeit chip case since she broke the story. She's tells us why the size and scope of the scheme is a stumbling block for the state.
The two Henderson men alleged to be creating and passing counterfeit chips were originally charged with 822 counts. That was whittled down by the DA to 268, which was still too much for the state to handle at an initial hearing this morning. How did it get to this point? Take a look at our exclusive video of a garage crime lab of a different kind.
Go away and come back tomorrow. That's what defendants Erick Morikawa and Jeremy Lewis were told in court this morning after prosecutors told Judge Bixler their counterfeit chip case was too big to handle just three days after their arrests.
Alan Zellhoefer is with the Gaming Control Board. "This is unique. This is, to my knowledge, the first one that I've heard, that I know in the state and the first one I've heard of in the country." The men were originally charged with 822 counts relating to their sophisticated, in-home counterfeiting operation. "You can see the various stages of conversion."
You might see a show where a magician turns a $1 casino chip into a $100 chip, but Gaming Control investigators say these guys had it down to a science. "The chips are of such quality that some of those passed may not have been detected yet." They have detected more than 50 thousand dollars worth of counterfeit chips that Morikawa and Lewis are accused of passing over the last three months at eight casino properties, including Green Valley Ranch, Monte Carlo, Caesars and Mandalay Bay.
Gaming control caught up with them last week as they were trying to do it again. "We got them at the Four Queens, and upstairs, these are all four queens 100 dollar inserts."
"That they made on their computer?"
"That they've made, and that is what sticks in the middle of a $1 chip with a little paint and you've got a $100 chip."
You're watching exclusive video of gaming control officers serving a search warrant at the Henderson home the two men shared. They used a computer scanner, airbrushing tools, paint, glitter and an industrial blow dryer to convert the chips. "You can for a dollar, buy a $1 chip, pop the insert out, the part that says $1, and then bring it here, color it up, let's say black, and put your pip colors on it, lets say it's a yellow or maybe a blue, using these little inserts we showed you, and then now you have a $1 investment and a $99 profit."
One of the defendants, Jeremy Lewis, is familiar with making fraudulent profits. He's got drug and forgery warrants out of California, and multiple arrests here, very recently, on forgery, theft and burglary charges. Another hearing scheduled for tomorrow will see the charges consolidated further to just 11 counts for each man. They're currently being held on five million dollars bail.
Gaming Control is still investigating another possible connection to this case, where 24 thousand dollars worth of counterfeit chips were passed at a casino in northern Nevada.
First Of Its Kind Bust Nets Two Alleged Gambling Chip Cheaters
April 7, 2005, 08:46 AM
http://kvbc.static.worldnow.com/images/3177652_BG1.jpg
It's a first-of-its-kind bust for cheating at gambling, and we were the first to tell you about it. News 3's Darcy Spears has been following this counterfeit chip case since she broke the story. She's tells us why the size and scope of the scheme is a stumbling block for the state.
The two Henderson men alleged to be creating and passing counterfeit chips were originally charged with 822 counts. That was whittled down by the DA to 268, which was still too much for the state to handle at an initial hearing this morning. How did it get to this point? Take a look at our exclusive video of a garage crime lab of a different kind.
Go away and come back tomorrow. That's what defendants Erick Morikawa and Jeremy Lewis were told in court this morning after prosecutors told Judge Bixler their counterfeit chip case was too big to handle just three days after their arrests.
Alan Zellhoefer is with the Gaming Control Board. "This is unique. This is, to my knowledge, the first one that I've heard, that I know in the state and the first one I've heard of in the country." The men were originally charged with 822 counts relating to their sophisticated, in-home counterfeiting operation. "You can see the various stages of conversion."
You might see a show where a magician turns a $1 casino chip into a $100 chip, but Gaming Control investigators say these guys had it down to a science. "The chips are of such quality that some of those passed may not have been detected yet." They have detected more than 50 thousand dollars worth of counterfeit chips that Morikawa and Lewis are accused of passing over the last three months at eight casino properties, including Green Valley Ranch, Monte Carlo, Caesars and Mandalay Bay.
Gaming control caught up with them last week as they were trying to do it again. "We got them at the Four Queens, and upstairs, these are all four queens 100 dollar inserts."
"That they made on their computer?"
"That they've made, and that is what sticks in the middle of a $1 chip with a little paint and you've got a $100 chip."
You're watching exclusive video of gaming control officers serving a search warrant at the Henderson home the two men shared. They used a computer scanner, airbrushing tools, paint, glitter and an industrial blow dryer to convert the chips. "You can for a dollar, buy a $1 chip, pop the insert out, the part that says $1, and then bring it here, color it up, let's say black, and put your pip colors on it, lets say it's a yellow or maybe a blue, using these little inserts we showed you, and then now you have a $1 investment and a $99 profit."
One of the defendants, Jeremy Lewis, is familiar with making fraudulent profits. He's got drug and forgery warrants out of California, and multiple arrests here, very recently, on forgery, theft and burglary charges. Another hearing scheduled for tomorrow will see the charges consolidated further to just 11 counts for each man. They're currently being held on five million dollars bail.
Gaming Control is still investigating another possible connection to this case, where 24 thousand dollars worth of counterfeit chips were passed at a casino in northern Nevada.