A federal judge in Pennsylvania has handed down a 32-month prison sentence to a former executive of Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, in relation to a scam in which the executive conspired with other employees to steal personal information from player’s club members and duplicate their club cards to cash in hundreds of thousands of dollars in free play.
Robert Pellegrini, who was vice president of player development at the casino, pled guilty to charges that he and two others stole personal information numbers from gamblers and used them to create duplicate reward cards. As player development VP, Pellegrini was authorized to load the cards with free-play rewards, which he did, to the tune of $478,000. A cocktail waitress was enlisted to steal the PINs for the cards, and a friend of Pellegrini’s would gamble on the cards. The winnings were split among the three.
The two others also pleaded guilty in the scam, and are awaiting sentencing. Pellegrini’s attorneys argued for leniency on the basis that Pellegrini was a compulsive gambler who used proceeds from the scam to feed his addiction. Pellegrini’s wife was among those who pleaded to U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo for mercy, noting that he is the father of three small children. Caputo said he was persuaded by several letters of support on the defendant’s behalf.
