Report: Canterbury Park has convicted felons among employees

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

The felons hired included a blackjack dealer convicted of drug peddling, a man who stole a pickup truck and a man convicted of burglary, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday. The newspaper analyzed state records for its report.

Of the 3,100 people licensed to work at Canterbury this year through October, 42 had other criminal convictions on file with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the newspaper reported.

When the Legislature authorized the gambling operation in 1983, lawmakers insisted that no one who works there should have been convicted of a felony or a serious offense relating to gambling.

"There was a real desire to be as absolutely pure about this as we could," recalled Fritz Knaak, a lawyer and former state senator from White Bear Lake who helped write the racing law.

"What I remember about all of that is we didn't want anybody who even kind of smiled at risky behavior, much less an actual felon, involved. It had to be sold on that basis," Knaak said.

Randy Sampson, Canterbury's president, said Canterbury needs to be more vigilant in deciding who works there and not hire someone just because they qualify for a license.

He said Canterbury recently began its own process of checking job applicants after the Star Tribune questioned the backgrounds of several employees.

The newspaper also reported that the Racing Commission:

-Licensed a racehorse owner who was convicted in 1999 of a misdemeanor for cashing $16,500 in bad checks at a tribal casino in an attempt to recoup six-figure losses from playing blackjack.

-Licensed three people in 2000 because it mistook their felonies for misdemeanors or simply overlooked their criminal records.

-Licensed other people convicted of felonies because judges had deemed their convictions to be misdemeanors after they completed probation, served jail stints or paid fines.

Commission Chairwoman Cynthia Piper said she has asked her staff and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to improve and speed up background checks.

"It's going to get corrected," she said. "But there still is a bureaucracy ... and you don't change things easily."

Conceding that the commission licensed some people it shouldn't, Richard Krueger, its executive director, added: "There have been no scandals at Canterbury Park on account of any licensing background errors on our part."

The Racing Commission licensed Dennis Dufault, who had been a blackjack dealer at the Fond du Luth casino in Duluth, to deal cards in the new Canterbury card club in February.

Dufault, 27, had been convicted in 1998 of selling a controlled substance, a felony. He was fined and placed on probation for up to three years. He began work in April, seven months before he finished probation and before a judge deemed his felony to be a misdemeanor.

Dufault was licensed because his conviction was mistaken for a misdemeanor, Krueger said.

Horse owner Dennis Wager, 47, was licensed last year despite having felony charges pending for allegedly writing $16,500 in fraudulent checks at the Treasure Island Casino in Red Wing. He was relicensed this year - after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor for issuing a dishonored check and repaying the $16,500 - because the Racing Commission didn't regard the crime as gambling-related.

In another case, Robert Brady, 20, was placed on probation after pleading guilty in July 1999 to stealing a pickup, a felony. Nine months later, the Racing Commission licensed him to run chips among tables in the card room. He was dismissed after a month for reasons Canterbury won't explain.

Brady said he lied when he applied for a license. "They asked if you were convicted of a felony. I said, 'no,' because I wouldn't get a job if I said 'yes."'

Piper said the pool of applicants for jobs in the gambling industry is part of the problem. "They're not choir boys," she said. "It's partly the nature of the business."

Of those with misdemeanor convictions, the biggest category is driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Other crimes include drug possession or dealing, assault, receiving stolen property, theft, credit-card fraud and lying to a police officer.

Hiring is even more difficult because 40 to 60 percent of the track work force turns over each year, Krueger said.