Columnist Ralph Siraco: Scheme had been in works for months

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

The criminal proceedings into the fraud involving this year's Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick Six payoff have moved to the judicial arena.

Last Tuesday, the three primary suspects in the pick six investigation surrendered to authorities at the federal court in White Plains, N.Y.

Upon their arrival, Christopher Harn and Derrick Davis of Maryland and Glen DaSilva of New York were arrested and named in a criminal complaint that implicates them of conspiring to commit wire fraud. Marshals handcuffed the three former Drexel University fraternity brothers and escorted them to federal district court where they pleaded innocent before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Fox and were released on $200,000 bond each and placed on travel restrictions.

And so the investigation of the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup pick six scandal has quickly moved through the system. The United States attorney's office for the Southern District of New York will have until Dec. 17 to present evidence to a grand jury as they seek to issue an indictment on the complaint.

Davis, Harn and DaSilva, all 29, allegedly were involved in tampering with the computerized betting network -- known as the totalizator system -- that connected certain wagering tickets placed at three race tracks in three separate pools on three dates that culminated with the only six winning pick six tickets on the Breeders' Cup held at Arlington Park.

The seven-page complaint layed out the timeline and the way the trio manipulated a flaw in the betting program that operates the system which is responsible for billions of dollars in transactions every year.

The complaint stated that on or about Sept. 1 of this year, Harn, Davis and DaSilva started to plan their scheme.

Until now it was thought that the named trio were the only ones involved in the conspiracy. But the complaint states others also may be involved. Describing the overt acts, the complaint drew the timeline.

On or about Oct. 3, 2002, Glen DaSilva opened his phone betting account at the Catskill, N.Y., OTB from Manhattan. He then placed a pick-four wager through that system operated by Autotote Systems, Inc. He won that bet, on harness races at Balmoral Park, Ill., and was credited with approximately $1,757.

On or about Oct. 5,, DaSilva placed a pick-six wager through the account at Belmont Park that produced approximately $107,608 in winnings. On or about Oct. 5, DaSilva -- through a fax to Catskill OTB -- requested a check for $80,000 which the OTB sent to DaSilva. That check was deposited into his Citibank account in Manhattan on Oct. 15.

On or about Oct. 18, Derrick Davis opened his phone betting account at the Catskill OTB from Maryland. On Oct. 26, Davis placed a $12 denomination pick-six wager on the Breeders' Cup through the account. That ticket, with a single selection in each of the first four races and all runners in the final two events, cost a total of $1,152. The bet, yielding all six pick six winning tickets plus 108 consolations, won $3,067,821.60.

On Oct. 26, Christopher Harn used a computer at his place of employment, Autotote Systems, Inc., located in Newark, Del., to access the Catskill OTB Autotote hub in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., via modem.

Harn was a senior computer programmer with Autotote and was dismissed on Oct. 30. At Autotote, Harn was involved in upgrading the company's computer system for the purpose of implementing an Interactive Voice Recognition touch tone telephone wagering system during April and May of 2002. Harn also had access, through his Autotote employment, to data collected via the IVR system and held at various hub locations, including the Catskill OTB in Poughkeepsie.

It is believed that with the security clearance and knowledge of the data processing, Harn infiltrated the system to change the tickets that DaSliva and Davis made through the Catskill OTB on the three dates listed in the complaint. On at least the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup pick-six, telephone records indicate that calls were placed from Davis' cell phone to Harn's cell phone during the time the Breeders' Cup races were being run. Further investigation revealed that Harn was not scheduled to work at the Newark hub on Oct. 26, but came to work anyway and was seen using his cell phone by other workers while at the hub.

As the criminal case moves forward, Autotote is installing a system to monitor the activities of people with access to its betting network. According to a letter sent to its customer race tracks, the system will "have an alarm function that will immediately notify specific personnel of any attempted tampering or alteration of data."

But the horse already has left the barn.