Las Vegas Casino Fraudster Sentenced to Jail after Stealing $1M

Casinos are particularly vulnerable to a wide range of crimes. Such include but are not limited to money laundering, fraud and theft, among other criminal activities that require casino operators to be constantly on the lookout. This summer, across Las Vegas, there were different reports regarding scams and fraud attempts. Now a new report reveals that a young man who was reportedly able to steal more than $1 million was sentenced to one year in jail.

As announced by 8 News Now, a 24-year-old person with initials G.M., was sentenced Monday to one year in prison. The young man will serve his time at the Clark County Detention Center after he was sentenced by Clark County District Judge Jasmin Lilly-Spells. The recent sentencing comes after the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of theft of more than $100,000.

As a category B felony, theft of more than $100,000 is subject to a prison sentence between 1 year and 20 years according to the current laws in Nevada. Moreover, the crime is punishable by a fine of up to $15,000. G.M., who allegedly was able to defraud casinos of more than $1 million, was initially facing two felony charges.

However, last month, he entered into a guilty plea deal, agreeing to serve a sentence between one and 10 years. Besides one year in jail, District Judge Lilly-Spells sentenced G.M. to a 36-to-96-month suspended sentence. This otherwise means that the 24-year-old must not violate his probation after he is released from jail. If he does so, he will be sent to prison.

The Young Man Says He Made a Mistake

In court on Monday, the culprit showed remorse for his actions. “This isn’t what I want to do or what I ever wanted to do. It was a mistake,” said the 24-year-old. He deemed his actions as “very stupid” and pointed out: “I went into this to get something for nothing, and I am paying the consequences.”

An investigation alleged the young man was involved in thefts at Eureka Casino Resort, Circa Hotel and Casino, as well as the Golden Nugget. However, he only pleaded guilty to the fraud at Circa.

Back in June, a scam involving a person who pretended to be the owner of the hotel was reported. At the time, security at Circa told police that “an unknown person” contacted the venue claiming to be the owner of the hotel and asking for more than $320,000. This unknown person explained that the money would be used for payments to the fire department that were urgent.

Once cage supervisor received a phone call from a person who claimed to be Circa’s owner and asked for money to be delivered to multiple locations. Overall, the venue lost some $1,170,000 due to the fraud. Upon investigating the case, police uncovered that a car that belonged to the aunt of the 24-year-old was used for the theft.