Duo Face Multiple Charges for Stealing $350K from Casino

A pair of suspects, one Roberto Carlos Gonzales Miranda and one Roberto Orellana, are now charged in a scam that saw them steal more than $350,000 from a casino in South Dakota.

The duo has already been indicted by a grand jury over conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit theft. The case targets a tribal gaming establishment, namely the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Grand River Casino.

Nebraska Casino Staffer Taken in By Brazen Criminals

The scam and subsequent theft were pulled off following a blueprint of similar brazen attacks on casino properties with an anonymous woman calling in ahead to notify the casino’s cage manager that the property would have to pay $700,000 in various fees and that a USPS delivery guy had been dispatched to pick up the money.

The money, the unidentified woman told the casino employee, was to cover various fees incurred during inspection and fees, as well as some fines. The crime was well-orchestrated but frankly confusing for the cage manager who found themselves inundated with odd, urgent, and intimidating requests.

 While the woman was still on the phone, the cage manager’s number received a text message saying that they were to empty the contents of the vault and instead go to another location. The message sender was supposedly the cage manager’s boss who ordered them to take the vaults’ contents and drive to a Bitcoin ATM in Aberdeen and deposit the amount there.

Casino Employees Continue to Be Victims of Scams

The worker decided to act on the text message, withdrawing $352,000 from the vault, and heading over to Aberdeen. On their way to the Bitcoin ATM, the employee was called to instead meet with Miranda at a Mitchell gas station and hand over the money in person, which they did.

At this point, it’s not clear how the conversation went from having to pay up to $700,000 to “come and meet me at a gas station in Mitchell,” and it’s not clear if the employee has been similarly targeted by federal investigators. If Miranda and his co-conspirators are found guilty, they face up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.