Police says dealer lured into scam

Friday, April 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Joseph Luz, 35, said in a police affidavit released Thursday that he left Massachusetts three years ago to get out of a sports betting debt of $5,000 to $8,000.

But his bookie, Lucien Huard of Fall River, Mass., saw Luz in a promotional video at the casino and enlisted him in the scam, police say.

Luz, of Westerly, R.I., was arraigned Thursday in New London Superior Court on charges of first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny.

He is among six who have been charged in the scheme that unraveled in September after casino surveillance caught two blackjack players illegally "capping," or increasing their bets after the last cards of the game had been dealt.

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