“Men from Wallingford and Southington face felony charges after police said they worked together to adjust bets and receive excessive gambling credits.
Christian Elwood, 40, of 40 N. Orchard St., Wallingford and Jeremy Paul Howard, 40, of Southington were both charged with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny.
According to the arrest warrant, in May officers from the Mohegan Tribal Police began a larceny investigation involving a Mohegan Sun dealer, identified as Elwood, a patron, identified by the New London Day as Howard and a Mohegan Sun Floor Supervisor, also identified by the Day as Joseph P. Marotta, 36, of Danielson.
Security personnel and the director of table games reviewed the security footage from May 4. Howard is seen placing $3,000 in “front money” at a cashier window, the arrest warrant said. “Front money” can be used to go to a table game and call up a marker for any amount up to the deposit amount, the warrant said. Howard went to a roulette table and bought in for $300, then asked for a $2,000 marker from his front money, the warrant said. Marotta took Howard’s identification to verify the information and placed the $2,000 in markers on the table, the warrant said. Elwood then took $20,000 in gaming cheques and placed them in front of Howard, the warrant said. Howard put the gaming cheques in his pocket and left the roulette table shortly after, the warrant continued. After Howard left, Marotta entered false ratings into the system showing Howard winning more than he did to account for the missing money, the warrant said.
On May 21, Howard went to a roulette table and placed $25 gaming cheques on numbers for several rounds of play, the warrant said. Howard did not win during the rounds, but Elwood moved his bets to the winning number, paying out around $4,375 per falsified win, the warrant said. During another round Howard did win $2,250, but Elwood moved more bet markers onto the space, doubling his win, the warrant said.
During an interview with tribal police Elwood admitted knowing Howard for about a year and a half. Elwood told police moving the bets to the winning numbers must have been a “mistake” and said the piles must have fallen over and when he was tidying up the bets he accidentally moved the markers, the warrant said. Elwood denied moving the bets on purpose, the warrant said. He also denied over paying Howard the $20,000 for the front money in the first incident, the warrant said.
Police spoke with Marotta, who eventually admitted talking to Elwood about financial difficulties and Elwood talked about intentionally overpaying a patron and they would “get a piece of the action if he looked the other way,” the warrant stated.”

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