SEATTLE – Jacob Dyson Nickels, the son of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, has been indicted as part of an investigation into a casino-cheating ring accused of stealing millions of dollars by bribing dealers in seven states to falsely shuffle decks.
Nickels, 25, was a pit boss at the Nooksack Indian Tribe’s Nooksack River Casino in Whatcom County in the summer of 2005 when he accepted $5,000 to introduce one of the ring’s alleged conspirators to crooked dealers, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday at U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Two of the defendants, George Lee and Tien Duc Vu, won more than $90,000 on mini-baccarat that October with the help of Nickels and two dealers, Levi Seth Mayfield and Kasey James McKillip, the indictment said.
Mayor Nickels said Thursday that he and his wife Sharon had only “just learned of the charges involving our son Jacob.”
“We will be encouraging him to cooperate fully with the investigation. Until we know more we will have no comment on the substance of these allegations,” Nickels said in a statement. “We love our son deeply and will be supporting him fully throughout this difficult time.”
The mayor is on bereavement leave this week; his father, Robert Nickels, died May 13.
Jacob Nickels is charged with one count of conspiracy and four counts of theft of funds from a gaming establishment on Indian lands. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Tate London declined to comment on the case beyond what was in the charging papers or say whether investigators believe Nickels took additional kickbacks.
“The lion’s share of the winnings were carried off by the player-cheats,” London said.
In all, three indictments were unsealed Thursday – two in Seattle and one in San Diego – naming 24 defendants in an alleged racketeering enterprise dating from March 2002.
Twelve people were named in the Seattle indictments; seven of them, including Lee and Vu but not Nickels, were also indicted in San Diego. Conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison; theft of funds from Indian casinos carries a maximum 10 years.
Of the 18 targeted casinos in California, Washington, Connecticut, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada and Indiana, 10 were owned by tribes.
The group used “false shuffle” cheating schemes during blackjack and mini-baccarat games, the Justice Department said. The schemes involved bribes to casino supervisors and card dealers and use of blocks of unshuffled cards, the indictments said.
Prosecutors allege that members of the organization would signal a card dealer to do a false shuffle and then bet on the known order of the cards, winning more than $850,000 on one occasion.
The indictments also alleged that the ring used hidden transmitters and special software to predict the order in which cards would appear.
Two other defendants have been arrested in Canada in connection with a related cheating scheme in Ontario, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
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