A former employee at Durant, Okla.’s Choctaw Casino allegedly swiped $10,000 from the property’s vault in October. He is now facing court proceedings, KXII, a local TV station, reported.
Gregory Caleb Perry, 37, formerly was a vault clerk at the casino. That gave him access to the money stored in the vault.
He allegedly stole 100 $100 bills and stuffed them into his shirt, court documents claim. Perry allegedly put some of the money into a bank account belonging to his girlfriend, Mitsy McCulley.
Perry spent some of the loot on gambling, court costs, fines, restaurant meals, bars, medical bills, and a stay at the Choctaw Casino Resort, according to KXII.
Perry allegedly spent between $500 and $600 of the money at the casino. He also spent $80 on drinks at the Mason Jar Bar, KXII said.
His charges are not immediately available.
The Choctaw Casino is operated by the Choctaw Nation. It is believed to be the third-largest Indian nation in the US. The nation has more than 200,000 tribal members and more than 11,000 employees.
Mississippi Casino Theft
In an unrelated case, Reginal Brown, 36, a former employee of the Pearl River Resort — Silver Star Casino in Mississippi pled guilty in April to theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands. He will avoid prison time, but must pay a fine.
Brown was a banquet server at the Silver Star Hotel & Casino. Between January and May 2016, Brown used his password to steal approximately $10,800 from the cash recyclers in the casino, Mississippi Acting US Attorney Darren J. LaMarca said in a statement.
Casino managers discovered the discrepancy in accounting records. There was also evidence on casino surveillance cameras.
Choctaw Police Department investigators interviewed Brown. Brown admitted to taking the money, LaMarca said. Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2018.
Brown was sentenced to five years of probation last month. If he fails to successfully complete probation, he could face a harsher sentence.
He must also pay $10,800 in restitution, based on the sentence imposed by federal District Court Judge Kristi H. Johnson.
Brown faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine, LaMarca said.
The casino is operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Minnesota Case
Also, in March 2021, a former tribal casino supervisor pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $300,000 from Minnesota’s Fortune Bay Resort Casino during a nearly seven-year span.
Jennifer Lynn Boutto, 32, of Orr, Minn., was sentenced to eight months in prison for embezzlement and theft of tribal funds. She was also placed on one year of supervised release. Boutto must also provide full restitution of the $315,739.87 to the tribe.
Boutto said while working at Fortune Bay Resort Casino, owned and operated by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, she executed nearly 3,000 fraudulent transactions for her financial gain.
As a front-desk supervisor, Boutto issued cash refunds to customers without direct supervision. Boutto confessed that she stole money by issuing false cash refunds against the invoices of previous Fortune Bay customers.
Boutto retrieved the refunds, but kept the cash for herself.
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