Crime & Safety
Casino Cash Cage Supervisor Stole $10K, Police Say
Freemansburg man told state troopers he had been taking a few hundred dollars a day, several times a week, for more than a year, according to court documents.
A supervisor in the “cage”—the center of cash storage and distribution at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem—is accused of stealing $10,000 from his employer, according to court papers.
Jesus Manuel Gonzalez-Torres, 23, of 626A Ramblewood Lane, Freemansburg, admitted to Pennsylvania State Police that he snuck several hundred dollars a day—three or four times a week—out of the cage over the course of 13 months, beginning in March 2012, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
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The state police Bureau of Gaming Enforcement began its investigation into Gonzalez-Torres on April 15 after casino surveillance personnel reported that he was stealing cash, troopers said.
According to the affidavit:
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- Casino surveillance employees began reviewing recorded video of Gonzalez-Torres at work after a fellow employee alerted them that he may be stealing. They then found, through the investigation, one alleged theft committed on April 13.
- At a little before 11 a.m. on that day, an employee brought $780 to the cage from a voucher redemption unit where customers get vouchers for cash. Gonzalez-Torres accepted the cash and brought it to a more private cashier window area.
- He put the money on the counter and began to fill out necessary paperwork indicating how much money he had received.
- He then removed some of the bills from the stack and put them into what appeared to be a sticky note pad. He took the pad with the money and put it into a drawer, which casino personnel said is not proper procedure.
- Further investigation by Sands surveillance personnel revealed that the paperwork Gonzalez-Torres filled out showed that he had received $80, not $780.
- At 11:10 a.m., Gonzalez-Torres returned to the drawer where he had stashed the sticky note pad containing the money and put a larger piece of paper in the drawer to cover the money.
- A little more than six hours later, Gonzalez-Torres returned to the drawer and removed papers, with the larger paper being on top. A still surveillance shot showed the larger paper concealing the money underneath.
- Gonzalez-Torres then left the cashier area and entered the cage directors’ room, where there are no cameras. Moments later, he left that room holding a clipboard with no visible papers.
- Troopers interviewed Gonzalez-Torres on April 16, and he admitted to stealing the $700 and explained his pattern of stealing a few hundred dollars a day out of the cage—three or four times a week—over 13 months. He estimated that he took about $10,000 total.
- Sands surveillance personnel then did a 30-day review of Gonzalez-Torres’s activities and found that he had stolen about $2,390 between March 17 and April 14.
Gonzalez-Torres was charged Wednesday with theft and receiving stolen property—both as third-class felonies. He was arraigned before District Judge Patricia Romig-Passaro and released on $20,000 unsecured bail.
Arrests do not indicate conviction.
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