GROVE, Okla. — A Southwest Missouri man has pleaded guilty in Oklahoma federal court to using counterfeit poker chips to steal thousands of dollars from an Indian casino in Northeast Oklahoma.
“I had previously obtained legimitate 25-cent poker chips and used a special process to create counterfeit chips,” William Reece Lancaster, 49, Joplin, admitted to authorities in his plea agreement. “Basically, I would bleach a particular type of poker chip and then use a special process to re-dye them to the desired color that matched the casino’s $500 poker chips. I would then take the fraudulent counterfeit chip and introduce it into play at the blackjack gaming table or exchange it for cash at the cashier window.”
Lancaster admitted that on several occasion between Sept. 11 and Oct. 8, when he was arrested, he took the counterfeit chips to the Seneca Cayuga’s Grand Lake Casino near Grove, Okla., according to a statement from Thomas Scott Woodward, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Sentencing is set for March 9, after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office. Lancaster faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Read more in Thursday's Joplin Globe.
