Legislature moving against slot thieves

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 10:54 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER -- Colorado has become a training ground for professional slot-machine thieves and a bill unanimously passed by a Senate committee Monday aims to rid the state of such criminals.

Senate Bill 46 would make it a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, to steal money from slot machines.

"We want to make Colorado a very unfriendly place for slot cheats," said Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, the bill's sponsor.

Fitz-Gerald told members of the Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Finance that Colorado is the only state with legalized gambling where stealing from slot machines is not a felony, even though it's a felony to steal from pop machines and newspaper stands, which hold far less money.

Would-be thieves now are flocking to the state's gambling houses and using probes, slugs and other sly maneuvers to illegally milk the one-armed bandits, according to testimony before the committee.

Ninety percent of the people who steal from slot machines in the state's three gaming towns of Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City come from out of state, said Tom Kitts, director of the Colorado Division of Gaming.

"Colorado is considered a good training state, the minor leagues if you will," Kitts said.

Kitts said he knows of 16 cases where thieves have been caught with $41,000 in stolen money from the machines. Searches of their cars turned up another $14,000 in coins.

The crime would carry a penalty of up to $100,000 in fines and a prison sentence of one to two years. A misdemeanor costs up to $5,000 in fines and up to 18 months in jail.