Colorado authorities are investigating a mountain city on line casino heist of $500,000 in money — the most important theft from a on line casino that state regulators can bear in mind since playing began once more in 1991.
The theft from the Monarch On line casino Resort and Spa, positioned 34 miles west of Denver in Black Hawk, occurred March 12. On line casino cashier Sabrina Eddy, 44, has been jailed on suspicion of theft and was nonetheless in her cell Tuesday afternoon, in response to a Gilpin County Clerk deputy who spoke on the situation her identify wouldn’t be used.
Monarch officers declined to say how cash was faraway from contained in the on line casino.
“Whereas we will affirm that the theft occurred,” On line casino spokeswoman Erica Ferris stated, “that is presently an lively and open investigation and Monarch is making no remark.”
In response to a Gilpin County District Courtroom affidavit issued in assist of a warrantless arrest, Eddy was working shortly after midnight within the Monarch because the “cage cashier” chargeable for on line casino cash when she acquired telephone and textual content messages from males claiming to be on line casino bosses. They instructed her to take cash wanted by the on line casino to pay a lawyer, the affidavit stated.
Surveillance cameras captured photographs of Eddy placing $50,000 bricks of cash right into a field after which loading that cash right into a gold-colored minivan, the affidavit stated. She left the on line casino, and later returned and went to the vault and took more cash, then drove as she stated she’d been instructed to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver — and handed the cash to a person close to the emergency room, the affidavit stated. She later referred to as the on line casino, stated she’d taken cash away from the on line casino, and added that she thought she is likely to be arrested, it stated.
“Eddy continued to state that she had accomplished nothing improper however she was simply following orders that she believed had been put out by the on line casino,” the affidavit stated.
Colorado Division of Gaming officers, charged with regulating the playing trade, declined to debate this heist, apart from to substantiate “lively administrative and felony investigations” into what occurred.
“The Division of Gaming is working with our native regulation enforcement and felony justice companions to analyze this incident completely and won’t remark additional on this case till the investigative, administrative, and felony processes have concluded,” Colorado Division of Income spokeswoman Suzanne Karrer wrote in an e mail.
In 1990, Colorado voters permitted a Colorado Restricted Gaming Initiative that legalized some playing within the mountain cities of Black Hawk, Central Metropolis, and Cripple Creek.
In 2003, a on line casino safety guard in Cripple Creek was suspected in a $300,000 theft from JP McGills, state regulators stated. In 2010, a robber who brandished a gun and stole $28,000 from Central Metropolis’s Well-known Bonanza later was shot and ultimately was sentenced to 224 years in jail. In 1993, armed robbers took $8,000 from the Gold Rush On line casino and Lodge in Cripple Creek earlier than they had been arrested.
“This newest case is the biggest theft we will discover, however small thefts happen frequently, and fraudulent acts are the crime we reply to essentially the most, getting a number of each week,” Karrer stated.
The Monarch On line casino in Black Hawk homes 740 slot machines, 14 sport tables, and a 250-seat buffet. It’s owned by Reno, Nevada-based Monarch On line casino and Resort Inc., which in February reported 2022 fourth quarter revenues of $120.5 million due partially to “the continued ramp-up of our expanded and enhanced Black Hawk property.”