A Swissvale man who was to stand trial today on charges of swindling the Meadows Racetrack & Casino out of nearly $430,000 instead was arrested by federal authorities for a "global prosecution" involving the theft of up to $1.4 million from slot machines.
Andre Michael Nestor, 39, was charged with computer intrusion, conspiracy and other federal offenses in what was
"From Las Vegas to Monaco, every casino that has these types of machines could be affected," said Washington County District Attorney Steven Toprani, who agreed to turn over prosecution of the case to the U.S. Attorney's office in Nevada.
That office, he said, plans to consolidate the Meadows case with other cases across the country and perhaps the world.
Mr. Nestor and his roommate Kerry Laverde, 51, each faced more than 650 felony counts of theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, computer trespassing and other charges relating to a scheme to exploit a software glitch in a Meadows slot machine.
Mr. Laverde, who was also scheduled to begin trial with Mr. Nestor this morning, instead agreed to a last-minute plea agreement with Mr. Toprani's office.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of receiving stolen property, agreed to serve three years of probation, and to make full restitution to the casino.
The DA's office said more than $430,000 had been seized in safe-deposit boxes, bank accounts and assets after the pair's arrest in October 2009.
Authorities said the men were aware of a software glitch in a high-limit slot machine and entered a specific set of keystrokes to expose the weakness and cause the machine to generate false double jackpots.
Mr. Nestor and others conspired to defraud additional slot machines in Las Vegas and elsewhere, Mr. Toprani said.
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