Lifelong prison for chips’ theft averted

As it was announced a few days ago, a 66-year-old US-American has stolen chips in several casinos in Las Vegas. The loot’s worth runs into a total of 20,000 US-Dollar. Now he is facing the possibility of several years in prison. The responsible State Advocate is even requesting a lifelong prison sentence for the older man. Why is the perpetrator in this case however facing such a high sentence?

The court has pronounced the 66-year-old perpetrator guilty of stealing chips amounting to 20,000 US-Dollar. During proceedings, the State Advocate in Las Vegas requested a lifelong prison sentence for the man. A few days ago, the responsible judge announced the sentence during a virtual sentencing - she remained way below the prison sentence requested by the State Advocate.

At least eight years in prison for the 66-year-old

Several months ago, a jury in Las Vegas had already pronounced the man guilty of gross theft. The members of the jury were convinced that the 66-year-old had stolen the chips from casinos, which amounted to the total sum of 20,000 US-Dollar. These thefts happened in the Golden Nugget Casino, in the Binion’s Horseshoe, in the Wynn Las Vegas, as well as in the New York-New York. Only some months ago, we had reported about the return to normality in Las Vegas.

As it was announced a few days ago, the 66-year-old has been condemned to eight years behind bars for his actions. The accused seemed to be taken unaware by the judgement and appeared abusive more than once. Besides this, the man who was connected by video conference, insisted that he was the victim of a conspiracy. Among other things, the man stated exactly, as follows:

“You are very angry, cold hearted dogs!”

Why did the State Advocate request a lifelong prison sentence?

Usually the theft of chips is mostly considered as a “minor offense”. It is therefore not a severe infringement, so that the impeding punishment is likely to be minor. In this case, the State Advocate of Las Vegas however demanded a lifelong sentence for the man. This was not only for this single case, but more because in the past 26 years he had never remained at large for more than 12 months at a stretch. The unteachable perpetrator always spent the rest of the time in American prisons.

Since the 1990s the accused has always been time and time again apprehended because of theft of chips from casinos. For this reason, the State Advocate now wanted to take action and lock him away for life. However, the responsible judge exercised leniency and condemned him “only” to a prison sentence of a minimum of eight years. The defence counsel of the man pointed out, that his client had not cashed out the stolen chips. For this reason there was no loss of money.

Conclusion

The older man, who for years had time and time again stolen chips from the casinos in Las Vegas, was yet again condemned for his actions. He is facing a prison sentence of at least eight years. The State Advocate even requested a lifelong sentence for the unteachable thief. We are sceptical, whether the perpetrator will comply with the law after he is discharged and also whether he will once again pocket away some chips.

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