Update October 19, 2021: A Minnesota US district court judge has ordered Jennifer Lynn Boutto to serve eight months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release. Boutto must restitute the stolen amount of $315,740.
Clerk faked VIP player refunds
We have a few casino-related crime stories to cover this week, starting in Minnesota, where a woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a tribal casino. The United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota originally charged 32-year-old Jennifer Lynn Boutto with embezzlement and theft from a tribal organization back in December; on Tuesday, she officially fessed up.
identify high rollers and then issue cash refunds on their invoices after they checked out
Boutto was a front desk clerk at the Fortune Bay Resort Casino in Tower, Minnesota, owned by the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. According to her plea agreement, from June 2013 to October 2019, she would identify high rollers and then issue cash refunds on their invoices after they checked out of the hotel. The refunds were on Fortune Bay’s books, the customers completely unaware since they were issued after they signed their invoice. Boutto then took money from the casino vault in an amount equivalent to the refund so that it matched the doctored invoice, keeping it for herself.
All told, Boutto stole $315,740 from the tribe across nearly 3,000 transactions during the six-year period. The court will sentence her later in the year. Boutto faces a sentence of up to two years in prison and $75,000 in restitution.
Attempted robber got pepper sprayed
In a situation that was likely frightening, but fortunately harmless, police in Missoula, Montana arrested Noah Gochis on Monday for the attempted armed robbery of the Magic Diamond Casino. Gochis has been charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor theft.
A casino employee described the Sunday events to the police, explaining that Gochis entered the casino brandishing a knife and demanded money. That employee blasted Gochis with pepper spray, prompting him to flee on foot. A police officer spotted Gochis later, able to identify him based on the employee’s description.
In the end, all the incident amounted to was a bit of a scare and probably painful eyes, throat, and lungs for Gochis. He made away with absolutely zero and nobody was injured.
Pantless man attacked Luxor housekeeper
And for the least pleasant incident by a healthy margin, Las Vegas police have arrested a man after he attacked a housekeeper at the Luxor hotel-casino on February 28. The housekeeper told authorities that she was cleaning on the 18th floor of the hotel when she turned around to see 22-year-old Robert Kuhn with his pants down. He then approached her while masturbating.
grabbing her and throwing her on a bed
The situation escalated, as the woman said that she yelled at Kuhn to stop, but he did just the opposite, grabbing her and throwing her on a bed. She continued to scream, punched him, and bit him on the hand. Kuhn threatened to kill the housekeeper, but he eventually left without doing further harm.
While police investigated the Luxor incident, they were able to link Kuhn to three other incidents of a previously unknown man exposing himself to and masturbating in front of women, all on January 19. In the first, he approached a tourist near the Cosmopolitan to do the deed. In the second, he approached someone in the women’s restroom at Bally’s. Security couldn’t catch him, but did give the police his photo. The third instance was the same, this time at Paris Las Vegas.
Police identified Kuhn in all four locations with the help of security video. He faces charges of burglary, battery by strangulation, battery to commit sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, coercion, and kidnapping.