Sands construction exec charged with card cheating

Wednesday, June 4, 1997 | 10:33 a.m.

The man responsible for overseeing construction of the $1.8 billion Sands Venetian megaresort and an Orleans hotel-casino blackjack dealer have been arrested on charges of fraud and cheating at gambling.

Roger McElfresh, 58, vice president of construction at Las Vegas Sands Inc., which is building the Venetian on the site of the old Sands hotel-casino, and blackjack dealer Laura Hernandez, 21, were arrested by state gaming agents Saturday afternoon at the Orleans.

Sources said Orleans surveillance cameras allegedly caught Hernandez showing McElfresh her hole cards while he played blackjack at her table.

Records show Hernandez has been working at the Orleans since Dec. 30. McElfresh also has been with the Sands less than a year.

Late Tuesday, David Friedman, assistant to Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, issued a statement supporting McElfresh and indicating the executive's arrest had caught the company by surprise.

"We believe that everyone is entitled to a presumption of innocence and sincerely hope that Mr. McElfresh is vindicated and found to be a victim of unfortunate circumstances," the company said.

"In the event this turns out not to be the case, we will be extremely disappointed."

The company also said it understood McElfresh "emphatically denies any wrongdoing" and is cooperating with gaming agents to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Sands is conducting its own investigation and has not yet taken any disciplinary action against McElfresh, company officials said.

Ground was broken on the Venetian, a 6,000-room megaresort, in April.