A small gang of card cheats including a floor supervisor were facing multiple felony charges after their unusual playing alerted the attention of casino
On July 12, Gabriel Urbieta Rodriguez (71) was playing at one of Turlock Poker Room’s blackjack table when he got off to a $6,000 losing start.
Rodriguez’s fortunes then began to change drastically after he started playing up to three hands a time. Also drawing the attention of surveillance staff was Rodriguez’s uncanny sense of timing which would see him asking for another card on 17 or other times standing on just 11.
After winning $24,000 in half an hour the casino decided to replace the cards being used at which point Rodriguez immediately left the table.
Looking over the surveillance video, the casino noticed alleged female accomplice In Cha Say (58) earlier put a yellow bag behind the card room supervisor Robert Younan (46) who was later seen to take several decks of cards out of when Rodriguez had sat at the table.
After recovering the cards, Gambling Control investigators discovered they had been marked with grease spots to indicate their values. Cards worth 10 or 11 points were found to have markings on their outer edge, 7s, 8s, and 9s had a mark in their middle, while all other cards were left unmarked.
The casino have now recovered the money and the gang of three find themselves facing a liturgy of felonies including conspiracy and winning by fraudulent means and could receive up to three years and eight months in prison each if convicted.
Commenting on the incident co-owner of the casino Joe Fernandez, said:
“I’ve known Robby for a number of years; he’s a good guy, and it breaks my heart.” Fernandez also added; “My deal is hey, if you’re going to come to the Turlock Poker Room and try a stunt like that, we’ll nail you to the wall.”
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