The U.S. Attorney’s office has charged a man with stealing $700,000 in cash from the Four Winds Casino in Hartford.
U.S. Attorney Mark Totten says the casino got a phone call on July 30 of last year from someone claiming to be the tribal chair of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. The caller told a casino employee he needed funds to make an urgent payment. A casino supervisor, apparently duped by the caller, gathered up $700,000 in cash and walked out of the casino.
At the direction of the caller, the employee transported the cash to a gas station in Gary, Indiana, where the employee then handed the cash over two suspects.
It took months of investigating, but the FBI and Pokagon Tribal Police were able to identify Jesus Gaytan-Garcia of Chicago as one of the individuals the casino employee met at the gas station.
Investigators searched Gaytan-Garcia’s home and say they found a bundle of cash still wrapped in a paper band stamped with the word “Hartford” and the exact date of the theft.
Gaytan-Garcia was taken into custody four days later. He’s charged with theft from an Indian tribal organization.
Below is the U.S Attorney’s full criminal complaint:
