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A former casino dealer at an Indiana casino has been accused of being part of the national blackjack scamming ring. The group has been accused of stealing almost $800,000 from the former Resorts East Chicago Casino in Indiana. The former dealer is Michael Waseleski and he faces charges of conspiracy to commit theft from gambling establishments on Indian lands. Waseleski surrendered to police and according to the indictment filed in federal court he became part of the group nicknamed the “Tran Organization”.
The group started in 2002 in California and targeted ten casinos. Several of the casinos targeted were on American Indian reservations. The spree of the scam is alleged to happen between 2002 to 2006. The group was able to devise a plan that saw blackjack dealers and mini-baccarat dealers acting as though they were shuffling the cards and the group was able to keep track and know the order of the cards to place their bets.
Waseleski was one of the dealers that the group bribed and trained. The group would work with dealers like Waseleski to scam money out of the casinos. It is believed that Waseleski traveled to Houston to learn the special technique and then he held the scamming group on five dates in the summer of 2005. Waseleski helped them win $776,250 from the Resorts Casino.
2009-10-09
