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November 24, 2009

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Slot cheat accomplice enters guilty plea

Friday, Aug. 15, 1997 | 7:15 a.m.

Berliner, 37, faces sentencing in Washoe District Court Sept. 26 on a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding former GCB slot expert Ron Harris. She also agreed to repay $2,500 to the Crystal Bay Club at Lake Tahoe and $4,500 to Fitzgerald's hotel-casino in Reno - her share of two illegal jackpots.

Harris pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating and a hearing is set on his plea Sept. 23 in Washoe District Court. He's also awaiting trial on similar charges in New Jersey.

Also indicted in the case were Reid Errol McNeal and Lynda Lee Doane. Doane's case is pending and McNeal pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat and to pay Fitzgerald's his $4,500 share of a rigged jackpot. He also agreed to testify against Harris.

As a result of the cheating activity, Harris also wound up in the state's "black book" of unsavory types barred from casinos.

Harris, who worked for years as a technician with the GCB's electronic division, allegedly devised a computer program that inserted a gaff into computer chips used in slot machines that increased a player's chances of winning a jackpot.

Harris didn't fight state efforts to list him in the "black book." He's the first former Nevada gambling industry regulator to be listed.

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