Men Arrested for Stealing Almost $200K from Ala. Casino

Two employees of the Wind Creek Casino in Alabama were arrested for stealing nearly $200,000 because of the incompetence of another employee.

Jory D’Michael Travunn Dumas and Timothy Dean Pettiway were charged with theft from a gaming establishment on Indian lands, which is a federal charge, after they allegedly stole money from the safe after another employee accidentally left the keys on top of a gaming kiosk.

Wind Creek Montgomery

Alabama has some of the most restrictive gaming laws in the United States. The state prohibits all casino and lottery games, but it does allow dog tracks. Native Americans, however, are allowed to have casinos under federal law despite them being outlawed in the state. Currently, there are five casinos in the state, and three are run by the Creek Indian Nation. They are restricted to slots and games that are like bingo but are electronic terminals.

The Creek Indian Nation, the Poarch Band, is the only federally recognized band of Native Americans in Alabama. It is estimated the tribe makes $331 million in revenue from casino gaming and properties in Alabama and the Caribbean.

The Theft

The theft of $200,000 in cash happened Aug. 10 when Dumas and Pettiway, who are related, were working the night shift. The procedure at the casino is to keep keys for the kiosks, or cash machines, in one location and check them out. However, on that evening, an employee left the keys on top of one of the kiosks. Video surveillance from that night showed an employee going to check the cash in the kiosk machines, and, then, accidentally leave the keys on top of one of the kiosks. While originally the police department believed that Dumas took the keys to the kiosk, it was, instead, Pettiway who was revealed to be the person who actually took them.

Pettiway allegedly stole $192,000 from two kiosks.

Implications

While Dumas’ charges were dismissed for now, the judge advised him that the charges might be resubmitted by a federal grand jury if an investigation reveals that Dumas had knowledge of Pettiway’s theft.

The surveillance footage showed that an employee left the keys to two kiosks, 8 and 19, on top of the cash machine, and, at some point, Pettiway retrieved the keys and opened the kiosks. The kiosks, which look like cash machines, have multiple cash boxes that hold bills of different denominations. Pettiway removed the boxes that contained $100 bills from both kiosks. In between pulling out the cash boxes, Pettiway also went into the bathroom where Dumas was and stuffed the cash into his shirt. Pettiway removed $100,800 in cash from one kiosk and $92,000 from the other.

The theft was discovered because the casino employee reported the keys were missing, and a different employee found that the cash boxes in the kiosks were not working properly. Casino security found the empty cash boxes in the bathroom, looked at the security footage, and arrested the two men.

The casino has since stated that its security measures will be changed in order to make sure this kind of theft does not happen again.

Wind Creek has since changed the policy it had with regard to keys. The keys are signed out by each employee who needs to change out the money in the boxes and signed back in when he or she is finished. The keys are also kept in one location. The casino is hoping that this will be enough to deter future thefts. However, the tribe has begun conversations about beefing up security for cash box removal.

Disclaimer: All images are copyright to their respective owners and are used by USA Online Casino for informational purposes only.

SHARE
Previous articleCasino company shares continue to drop as chairman remains missing
Next articleMost Bizarre Ice Cream Flavors
Richard Holmes was born in Tampa, Florida and studied computer science at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola Florida. A devout Baptist, volunteer Sunday School teacher and online gaming fan, Richard works as a part-time systems administrator at Baptist Hospital and part-time professional blogger specializing in statistics, probability and computer science issues. He is an ardent believer in the future of artificial intelligence as a tool for transforming human society for the better, particularly in the area of health care and modern medicine. A chess player, and competitive online gamer Richard actively participates on online gaming tournaments in his free time.