Posted on Mon, Aug. 18, 2008
SLOTS, SLEAZE & SLIPPERY SLOPES
Sure, casinos have crime. But is it really bad enough to worry about?
As a woman plays a slot machine at Harrah's, she is likely being observed by one of about 1,000 surveillance cameras in the casino, making it, according to one cop, "the safest place in Chester."
By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News
benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255
CASINOS MAY not be breeding grounds for career criminals, but no one ever claimed they brought out the best in people, either. Petty thieves aside, patrons of Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack and Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack have found creative ways to get arrested this year - from the Glen Mills teenager who sidled up to the bar claiming to be 45 years old, to the Philly guy accused of grabbing an elderly woman's butt.
State-police reports from the slots parlors in Delaware County and Bucks County consist mostly of everyday transgressions - thefts, forgeries and the passing of counterfeit bills - but are interspersed with brusque tales of bizarre behavior, much of which is caught on camera:
* Frank Scarcella, 43, of Bristol, was arrested May 30 at Philadelphia Park after he allegedly called another gambler "an evil bitch and said she should die." Scarcella's mother, Rita, says her son is profoundly deaf and was wrongly accused by a neighbor with a long-running gripe. "How could he? He doesn't talk," she said of the allegation. "The tape showed nothing." Court records indicate that Scarcella was found guilty of harassment.
* The following month, Gary Hinderhofer, of Wilmington, Del., decided to treat the late-night Harrah's crowd to a strip show starring his "bare buttocks," according to police. State Trooper Steven Stigliano wrote in his report that Hinderhofer, 42, faces charges of harassment and resisting arrest for the June 15 incident in which he allegedly mooned casino patrons, knocked over a security officer and cursed out the cops.
* Heather Strain, 19, of Glen Mills, may have thought that she was wise beyond her years when she ordered a drink Feb. 24 at Harrah's Stir bar - using the ID of a 45-year-old woman. Strain was convicted of carrying false identification.
* Robert Long, 42, of Philadelphia, appears to have a commanding lead in the contest for most unusual crime at Philadelphia Park. He's accused of grabbing 72-year-old Pham Gerhardt's rear end earlier this month. "I scared. He grabbed my butt and he run," Gerhardt, a Vietnamese immigrant who speaks limited English, said from her home in Northeast Philadelphia. "I don't want people attack me. They caught him." Long was charged with harassment in the Aug. 8 incident.
* The biggest theft to come out of Harrah's since its slot machines opened last year was committed by one of its own employees. Qiana Wright, 25, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty last month to stealing more than $30,000 from the casino by creating false machine vouchers and cashing them. Wright, who worked as a slots hostess, was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail.
* Perhaps the record for the most heartless crime to date goes to Downingtown's James Fazzini. He allegedly stole $233 on May 18 from a man who collapsed in front of a Harrah's cash machine from what appeared to be a heart attack. Instead of helping the unconscious 60-year-old man, Fazzini helped himself to his cash then bolted, according to Trooper Gary Onick.
The incident was caught on tape and Fazzini, 55, surrendered to police when his picture was distributed to the news media. Charged with theft and receiving stolen property, his preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month in Chester district court.
So, are casinos a magnet for petty crime any more than, say, a sporting event or anywhere else that serves booze to large crowds?
Not necessarily, says Arthur Reber, a former psychology professor at Brooklyn College and author of "The New Gambler's Bible."
"People are opportunistic a---holes in general, and what happens in a casino is there are an awful lot of opportunities for these kinds of sleazy behavior," Reber said.
Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, says casinos tend to draw people with risk-taking personalities.
"Gambling in all of its manifestations can be quite thrilling to people and exciting," he said. "Crime is exciting to a lot of people. A lot of crime is thrill-driven."
The most common crimes at Harrah's Chester are thefts, which are down slightly so far this year compared to the same period in 2007, and forgeries and counterfeiting, which are on the rise.
Many of the victims are elderly, but casino patrons are generally older to begin with, said Sgt. Frank Cini, who heads the state police gaming-enforcement unit in Chester.
Cini said that police have also recorded 15 assaults and a dozen cases of disorderly conduct or public drunkenness at the riverfront casino, which serves alcohol from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.
One 66-year-old Philadelphia man was permanently evicted from Harrah's in June after, police say, he grabbed a 36-year-old slots hostess and insisted that she sit on his lap.
He then chased her around the casino floor yelling, "Give me a big kiss! I want a damn kiss, baby!"
A Drexel Hill man was banned from the premises last month when he ordered a beer while playing blackjack "knowing he did not have any money to pay for it," state police reported. When the server returned, he laughed in her face "and continued to laugh at her as she walked away with the drink."
While Cini urges patrons to watch their belongings and stay with slot machines with credits on them, many petty thieves are caught stealing anyway - and oftentimes forced to pay restitution to their victims - because of the approximately 1,000 surveillance cameras that monitor the property.
"In my opinion, it is the safest place in Chester," Cini said. "Potentially every movement, at least on the gambling floor, is being monitored."
Officials in Chester and Bensalem say they have seen no uptick in crime in their communities that can be attributed to Harrah's Chester and Philadelphia Park, whose slots parlors opened in January 2007 and December 2006, respectively.
But David Mustard, a University of Georgia economics professor who co-authored a 2006 study that found that casinos lead to increases in most major crimes except murder, said that gambling addiction and other factors that contribute to crime can take years to override the positive impacts of casinos, such as the jobs they provide.
"It's not like I gamble today, lose $50, and go out and commit a crime," Mustard said, explaining that gambling addicts typically deplete their own resources or borrow money before they resort to more extreme measures.
Once they reach that threshold, however, the addiction can take over. Just ask Carol Ackley, the former Ridley School District payroll coordinator who devised a crafty scheme to embezzle nearly $600,000 from the Delaware County district. She blew it all at Harrah's Chester - located less than four miles from her home - and casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Her husband, Herb Ackley, who worked as a painter for Ridley schools, initially said he was "shocked" when Carol was arrested in December. But he was later convicted of receiving stolen property, perjury and tax evasion after authorities determined that both he and his wife used the money to play slot machines.
Deputy District Attorney Greg Hurchalla, chief prosecutor for Delaware County's gaming crime unit, said the close proximity of Harrah's is not necessarily a motivator for county residents to steal money to gamble.
Carol Ackley's embezzlement scheme, for instance, began in 2001. And Mary Arnold, the former Southeast Delco School District employee who pleaded guilty last year to stealing $287,000 in lunch money to feed her gambling habit, spent all the money in Atlantic City.
"We've had these thefts based on alleged gambling addictions long before Harrah's ever opened," Hurchalla said. "It seems like whether or not the casino is 10 miles away or 50 miles away, they're going to find a way to gamble."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told City Council in May that he is considering creating special police districts around two proposed waterfront casinos - Foxwoods, in South Philly, and SugarHouse, in Fishtown.
Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said that Ramsey's plan is still on the table, but the cost of the special districts and other details haven't been worked out.
"When you have more people, more cars, more businesses, you are going to have more activity and always potentially more victims," Vanore said. "Not only more serious crimes, but petty thefts and car break-ins. So it's something that we're looking at." *
SLOTS, SLEAZE & SLIPPERY SLOPES
Sure, casinos have crime. But is it really bad enough to worry about?
As a woman plays a slot machine at Harrah's, she is likely being observed by one of about 1,000 surveillance cameras in the casino, making it, according to one cop, "the safest place in Chester."
By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News
benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255
CASINOS MAY not be breeding grounds for career criminals, but no one ever claimed they brought out the best in people, either. Petty thieves aside, patrons of Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack and Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack have found creative ways to get arrested this year - from the Glen Mills teenager who sidled up to the bar claiming to be 45 years old, to the Philly guy accused of grabbing an elderly woman's butt.
State-police reports from the slots parlors in Delaware County and Bucks County consist mostly of everyday transgressions - thefts, forgeries and the passing of counterfeit bills - but are interspersed with brusque tales of bizarre behavior, much of which is caught on camera:
* Frank Scarcella, 43, of Bristol, was arrested May 30 at Philadelphia Park after he allegedly called another gambler "an evil bitch and said she should die." Scarcella's mother, Rita, says her son is profoundly deaf and was wrongly accused by a neighbor with a long-running gripe. "How could he? He doesn't talk," she said of the allegation. "The tape showed nothing." Court records indicate that Scarcella was found guilty of harassment.
* The following month, Gary Hinderhofer, of Wilmington, Del., decided to treat the late-night Harrah's crowd to a strip show starring his "bare buttocks," according to police. State Trooper Steven Stigliano wrote in his report that Hinderhofer, 42, faces charges of harassment and resisting arrest for the June 15 incident in which he allegedly mooned casino patrons, knocked over a security officer and cursed out the cops.
* Heather Strain, 19, of Glen Mills, may have thought that she was wise beyond her years when she ordered a drink Feb. 24 at Harrah's Stir bar - using the ID of a 45-year-old woman. Strain was convicted of carrying false identification.
* Robert Long, 42, of Philadelphia, appears to have a commanding lead in the contest for most unusual crime at Philadelphia Park. He's accused of grabbing 72-year-old Pham Gerhardt's rear end earlier this month. "I scared. He grabbed my butt and he run," Gerhardt, a Vietnamese immigrant who speaks limited English, said from her home in Northeast Philadelphia. "I don't want people attack me. They caught him." Long was charged with harassment in the Aug. 8 incident.
* The biggest theft to come out of Harrah's since its slot machines opened last year was committed by one of its own employees. Qiana Wright, 25, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty last month to stealing more than $30,000 from the casino by creating false machine vouchers and cashing them. Wright, who worked as a slots hostess, was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail.
* Perhaps the record for the most heartless crime to date goes to Downingtown's James Fazzini. He allegedly stole $233 on May 18 from a man who collapsed in front of a Harrah's cash machine from what appeared to be a heart attack. Instead of helping the unconscious 60-year-old man, Fazzini helped himself to his cash then bolted, according to Trooper Gary Onick.
The incident was caught on tape and Fazzini, 55, surrendered to police when his picture was distributed to the news media. Charged with theft and receiving stolen property, his preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month in Chester district court.
So, are casinos a magnet for petty crime any more than, say, a sporting event or anywhere else that serves booze to large crowds?
Not necessarily, says Arthur Reber, a former psychology professor at Brooklyn College and author of "The New Gambler's Bible."
"People are opportunistic a---holes in general, and what happens in a casino is there are an awful lot of opportunities for these kinds of sleazy behavior," Reber said.
Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, says casinos tend to draw people with risk-taking personalities.
"Gambling in all of its manifestations can be quite thrilling to people and exciting," he said. "Crime is exciting to a lot of people. A lot of crime is thrill-driven."
The most common crimes at Harrah's Chester are thefts, which are down slightly so far this year compared to the same period in 2007, and forgeries and counterfeiting, which are on the rise.
Many of the victims are elderly, but casino patrons are generally older to begin with, said Sgt. Frank Cini, who heads the state police gaming-enforcement unit in Chester.
Cini said that police have also recorded 15 assaults and a dozen cases of disorderly conduct or public drunkenness at the riverfront casino, which serves alcohol from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.
One 66-year-old Philadelphia man was permanently evicted from Harrah's in June after, police say, he grabbed a 36-year-old slots hostess and insisted that she sit on his lap.
He then chased her around the casino floor yelling, "Give me a big kiss! I want a damn kiss, baby!"
A Drexel Hill man was banned from the premises last month when he ordered a beer while playing blackjack "knowing he did not have any money to pay for it," state police reported. When the server returned, he laughed in her face "and continued to laugh at her as she walked away with the drink."
While Cini urges patrons to watch their belongings and stay with slot machines with credits on them, many petty thieves are caught stealing anyway - and oftentimes forced to pay restitution to their victims - because of the approximately 1,000 surveillance cameras that monitor the property.
"In my opinion, it is the safest place in Chester," Cini said. "Potentially every movement, at least on the gambling floor, is being monitored."
Officials in Chester and Bensalem say they have seen no uptick in crime in their communities that can be attributed to Harrah's Chester and Philadelphia Park, whose slots parlors opened in January 2007 and December 2006, respectively.
But David Mustard, a University of Georgia economics professor who co-authored a 2006 study that found that casinos lead to increases in most major crimes except murder, said that gambling addiction and other factors that contribute to crime can take years to override the positive impacts of casinos, such as the jobs they provide.
"It's not like I gamble today, lose $50, and go out and commit a crime," Mustard said, explaining that gambling addicts typically deplete their own resources or borrow money before they resort to more extreme measures.
Once they reach that threshold, however, the addiction can take over. Just ask Carol Ackley, the former Ridley School District payroll coordinator who devised a crafty scheme to embezzle nearly $600,000 from the Delaware County district. She blew it all at Harrah's Chester - located less than four miles from her home - and casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Her husband, Herb Ackley, who worked as a painter for Ridley schools, initially said he was "shocked" when Carol was arrested in December. But he was later convicted of receiving stolen property, perjury and tax evasion after authorities determined that both he and his wife used the money to play slot machines.
Deputy District Attorney Greg Hurchalla, chief prosecutor for Delaware County's gaming crime unit, said the close proximity of Harrah's is not necessarily a motivator for county residents to steal money to gamble.
Carol Ackley's embezzlement scheme, for instance, began in 2001. And Mary Arnold, the former Southeast Delco School District employee who pleaded guilty last year to stealing $287,000 in lunch money to feed her gambling habit, spent all the money in Atlantic City.
"We've had these thefts based on alleged gambling addictions long before Harrah's ever opened," Hurchalla said. "It seems like whether or not the casino is 10 miles away or 50 miles away, they're going to find a way to gamble."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told City Council in May that he is considering creating special police districts around two proposed waterfront casinos - Foxwoods, in South Philly, and SugarHouse, in Fishtown.
Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said that Ramsey's plan is still on the table, but the cost of the special districts and other details haven't been worked out.
"When you have more people, more cars, more businesses, you are going to have more activity and always potentially more victims," Vanore said. "Not only more serious crimes, but petty thefts and car break-ins. So it's something that we're looking at." *
