Slot tech gets probation

Monday, Aug. 21, 2000 | 11:56 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- A slot machine technician who figured out a way to steal money from them was sentenced Friday to five years' probation.

Frederick Mensing, 53, of Buena, N.J., a longtime employee of Tropicana Casino Resort, was also ordered to repay the $20,000 he stole and banned from entering any casinos.

Tropicana officials became suspicious when the cash containers in some of its Aristocrat $1 slot machines were consistently registering more money than was showing up in its cash boxes, said Deputy Attorney General Jill Moyer.

On Jan. 23, casino officials inserted six marked bills into each machine and kept the machines under surveillance. Eventually, Mensing was seen using a screwdriver to pry the cover plates off one and pulling bills from beneath the plates, Moyer said.

When he was confronted, he had one of the marked $20 bills among the $1,030 in his pockets. A search of his home yielded $15,000 in cash believed taken from the machines.

Mensing admitted stealing the money beginning last November.

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