Fake Tokens : Police Arrest 2 in Slot Scheme

An Irvine couple has been arrested in Las Vegas and charged with manufacturing thousands of counterfeit slot-machine tokens, a Nevada gaming control agent said Wednesday.

Richard E. Hall, 70, and his wife, Dorothy Hall, 68, were arrested by agents at 1 a.m. Tuesday in Las Vegas after an investigation of the couple’s activities, according to Billy R. Suggs, an investigator with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Suggs said the couple had not yet posted an unspecified bail and remained in the Clark County Jail on charges of possession of a cheating device, manufacture of counterfeit $1 slot tokens and conspiracy to manufacture slot tokens.

All the charges are felonies under Nevada law and punishable by one to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, he said.

The gaming control investigator said agents and officers of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Monday executed a search warrant at a warehouse complex rented by the Halls. He said the agents seized a three-ton hydraulic press used to print counterfeit slot-machine tokens.

Suggs said “several hundred” $1slot tokens with the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino insignia, as well as 32,000 blank tokens, also were confiscated. The Halls were arrested hours after the raid, he said.

“Apparently they (the Halls) were living in part of the warehouse. We found a bedroom they were using,” Suggs said.

Suggs said the investigation that led to the Halls’ arrest began recently in response to a growing problem in Las Vegas with the use of counterfeit slot tokens.

“This has become a big problem here. We’ve had a large influx of counterfeit tokens at several casinos lately,” he added.

An Irvine police spokesman said that the department was unaware of the arrests in Las Vegas and that the Halls have no criminal record in Irvine. Suggs said the Halls had no prior record in Las Vegas.