CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office has released a copy of the surveillance video used Thursday in the trial of an Akron woman charged with cheating at the Horseshoe Casino.
Jessica Encarnacion was found not guilty, even though the video shows her openly exchanging cards with Qing Zheng of Cleveland during a game of four-card poker on Aug. 15.
Encarnacion said she was new to casinos and poker and was being coached by Zheng, whom she had just met at the casino. Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Friedland, who heard the case without a jury, ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that Encarnacion intentionally cheated.
Zheng's case is pending.
Cheating a casino in Ohio is a fifth-degree felony, with maximum penalties of six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
The prosecutor's office has filed 28 cheating cases since the Horseshoe opened in May and so far has obtained 14 convictions. Encarnacion was the first defendant to go to trial and the first to be acquitted.
The Plain Dealer and Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty are locked in a debate over whether the casino's surveillance videos are public record after a case is concluded. Prosecutor's spokeswoman Maria Russo said the office released this video because it had been played during the trial.
Follow Thomas Ott on Twitter @thomasott1.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Copyright © 2024 ToCasino.net Online Casino. All Rights Reserved. Designed by