Defendant in Cincinnati admits participating in scheme to defraud gambling machines

Friday, Oct. 20, 2000 | 9:13 a.m.

David Smith, 29, pleaded guilty to accountability for tampering with a video gambling machine, a felony. He admitted he blocked the view of machines while a cohort cheated them.

Three other Cincinnati men, Norman Snider, Thomas McKenzie and James Sexton, already have been convicted and paid more than $10,400 restitution.

In May, July and September 1997, the group poked piano wire into the coin slots of gambling machines to accumulate playing credits. They also attached tape to $5 bills to pull the bills back out after the machine had credited them.

Mike Fanning, a state Department of Justice lawyer who prosecuted the case, said the group usually played a few games on the false credits, then cashed them in claiming to have won.

The group reportedly tampered with machines in Butte, Rocker, Dillon, Billings and Glendive.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Judge John Whelan deferred sentencing Smith for two years and ordered him to pay $402.50 restitution.

"It wasn't the brightest thing to do. I'm sure you realize that now," Whelan told Smith in court. "Keep your nose clean."

The plea agreement satisfied prosecutors, who labeled Smith a "minor player" in the scheme.

"It's not going to do us any good to throw a Cincinnati man with a job in a Montana prison," Fanning said.

Smith drove to Montana voluntarily this week to appear in court. Cincinnati police arrested him there after he was involved in a traffic accident, and a routine records check revealed he was wanted in Butte.