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LAS VEGAS (AP) — An ex-casino dealer and a co-defendant each pleaded not guilty Tuesday to scamming a Las Vegas Strip casino out of more than $1 million with phantom craps bets over a two-year span.
Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair set bail at $160,000 for former Bellagio employee Mark William Branco and $125,000 for Branco's brother-in-law, Jeffrey Martin. She gave each two weeks to raise the money.
The judge also rescinded an arrest warrant issued last week for co-defendant Anthony Granito after his lawyer, Dennis Myron Leavitt, said Granito, 49, was undergoing open heart surgery on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Granito's court date was reset to Nov. 3.
Branco, 42, surrendered to police on Friday and is being held at the Clark County jail. Martin, 38, is free pending their Oct. 20 court date.
Former craps dealer and co-defendant James Cooper Jr., 43, is scheduled to plead guilty on Thursday to one felony theft charge in a plea deal that calls for him to testify against the others, prosecutor Jay P. Ramen and defense attorney Amy Chelini said.
Ramen last week called it helpful to have a witness provide an inside account of the complex scheme.
Fifty-five other charges against Cooper will be dropped, and he'll face one-to-five years in state prison at sentencing after trial for the other three men, the prosecutor and defense lawyer said.
Gambling regulators and fraud-control agents from Bellagio parent company MGM Resorts International spent many hours reviewing security video, watching the men work and gamble, checking the mens' financial accounts and interviewing co-workers and witnesses, said James Taylor, a deputy chief of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board.
Taylor said Cooper and Branco would accept wagers from Martin and Granito after the dice roll was known, or set wagers aside and simply pay out whether the bets won or not.
Raman on Tuesday characterized Branco, who worked with Cooper, as the person who enlisted Martin and Granito for the alleged crime. Granito was a dealer at the Golden Nugget casino in downtown Las Vegas, his lawyer said.
The four men were named Sept. 30 in a 60-count indictment charging them with cheating at gambling and theft.
Branco faces 58 charges, Martin faces 40 counts, and Granito faces 36.
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