Four couples from Miami-Dade County in Florida have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in a case that saw $5.3million stolen from slot machines over a 4½ year period…
The four men - Michel Aleu, 41, Lester Lavin, 43, Yohander Jorrin Melhen, 42, and Leonard Betancourt, 46 – all worked at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming in video technician and supervisor roles, and devised a cunning plan that involved generating false credit vouchers.
Using their expertise and access to slot machines, the quartet used electronic equipment to change the ‘coin-in’ amounts registered by the slot machines.
The 63-count indictment, as reported by The Miami Herald, claimed that the men then “conducted a ‘hard reset’ or ‘RAM clear’…which would delete the history of the false and fraudulent ‘coin-in’ amounts from the [machine].”
The false credit vouchers were then exchanged for cash at the casino’s cashiers and ATMs, and that’s when the wives took over.
Maria Del Pilar Aleu, 39, Anisleydi Vergel Hermida, 30, Milagros Marile Acosta Torres, 33, and Yusmary Shriley Duran, 40, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering offenses.
Their roles involved setting up shell companies and multiple bank accounts to “wash” the stolen money.
Among the uses they put the $5.3million were:
- Buying a $285,000 apartment in Miami Beach
- a 2010 Infiniti QX56 SUV bought for $15,000 cash
- mortgage payments of $74,650.08
- a house bought for $230,000
- at least $100,000+ paid into Florida Prepaid College Board accounts
The fraud ran from 2011 to 2015 and totalled $5.3million according to federal prosecutor Dwayne Williams.
The eight defendants will be sentenced in the coming months.