Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000 | 11:01 a.m.
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. -- Past the dizzying patterns, flickering lights and frenzied tourists at Foxwoods Resort Casino lies a secure area off limits to patrons who play by the rules.
But those who gamble with the law are escorted -- by plainclothes detectives -- down a lackluster white hallway into a three-room office which functions as a state police barracks.
Last year, the casino unit made 362 arrests at Foxwoods and 152 arrests at Mohegan Sun Casino in neighboring Montville.
The troopers also conduct background checks on gaming employees -- more than 28,000 at Foxwoods since the casino opened in 1992, and escort employees carrying cash and chips across the floors of the world's largest casino.
Under a compact agreement made before Foxwoods opened, the state and the Mashantucket Pequot tribe agreed to house a state police unit to function as the primary law enforcement agency within the casino. The tribe also has its own police department and state police from the Montville barracks have jurisdiction on the reservation outside the gaming floor.
"You could consider this the only foot patrol in the Connecticut State Police," said Detective Patrick Graham. "We're constantly walking."
Detective Ronald Coleman, who works from midnight to 8 a.m., said he walks up to 20 miles per shift.
"We've been here since day one and we handle the crimes that take place ranging from breach of peace to disorderly conduct up to thefts and employee schemes," said unit commander Lt. Edmond Brunt.
One ongoing case involves a man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his stepfather who is suspected of stealing the money from Mohegan Sun.
Timothy Gahner, 22, was charged in August with concealing information from police during their investigation of the case. He has been in custody since early July when he was charged with raping a woman at his Norwich home.
His stepfather, Harlan Gahner, 54, a former Mohegan Sun employee, was arrested several days before the alleged rape when casino officials spotted him stuffing nearly $100,000 in cash into his overalls while counting money in one of the "soft count" rooms, police said
State police are investigating both Gahners for the possible theft of up to $600,000 in casino money.
Two other people were also charged in July with hindering prosecution and interfering with a police officer for allegedly lying during the investigation into the Gahners.
"This place sort of attracts the weirdest of the weird," said Coleman.
On what Coleman described as "the quietest night" at the Foxwoods dance club bar, a man pulled out a knife and attempted to stab another man for no apparent reason. The two men had never met. The assailant managed only to cut the victim's shirt and was charged with first-degree assault.
Graham recalled a late-night case involving a man who broke into a gaming table and stole about $7,500 worth of chips. He was caught on camera but got away. About a month later, he returned to the casino where surveillance employees tracked him on camera for about eight hours as he tried to break into a car in the parking lot.
Fingerprints on the car matched prints on the glass cover of the gaming table and detectives were able to make an arrest.
"He then bonded himself out with the stolen chips," said Graham.
In August, a Massachusetts man was charged with larceny in the theft of two human corneas that had been donated for transplantation.
Charles Dellaria, 47, told state police that he thought the plastic foam package holding the corneas on ice was filled with lobsters, Detective Jeff Megin said. The package, which had been stolen from South Station in Boston and belonged to the New England Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank, was about the size of a 12-pack beer container.
There are few instances of violent crime at the casinos.
The most common charge is criminal trespassing, with 92 arrests at Foxwoods in 1999, and 46 at Mohegan Sun. That includes people who are prohibited from returning to the casino for a variety of reasons, including drunken behavior, and compulsive gamblers who ask the casino to keep their photograph on file and boot them out if they refuse to leave.
Larceny is the second most common charge with 79 arrests last year at Foxwoods and 36 at Mohegan Sun.
There has only been one robbery at the casino, said Coleman. A former casino security guard knocked over a security guard as he grabbed some bills off a gaming table.
State police say the only people they ever found armed were licensed firearms owners who forgot they were carrying a weapon.
Only one sexual assault arrest was made at Foxwoods last year and troopers say there is no apparent problem with prostitution within the casino itself. There were four narcotics arrests at Foxwoods in 1999 and three at Mohegan Sun.
Brunt says that he is not aware of a suicide within the casino.
"There's a very rare suicide in the parking lot," said Graham, adding that there may be others at the hotel.
In the last month, there was one arrest at each casino of parents who left their children unattended while they gambled. But, Sgt. Alex Aalberg said there is not a significant problem with abandoned children.
"When you have a city of 40,000 or 60,000 people, you're going to have a problem," said Brunt, referring to the number of casino patrons. "Also you have a bigger chunk of males 18 to 40."
Last year, 79 women were arrested at Foxwoods compared to 283 men. At Mohegan Sun, the ratio was 17-135.
But it was a female suspect who kicked in an office wall bearing the bar that held her handcuffs. Since then, the casino added a diamond-plated steel panel to better secure the bar. Also added was a second area with steel paneling and a bar to hold additional suspects.
"We've had small armies in here between prisoners and security," said Graham.
Troopers who volunteer to work in the unit spend a week in Atlantic City learning to play all the games so that they can identify cheaters. But the real training comes on the job.
"Police officers get exposed to things here you won't see anywhere else," said Brunt.
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