Citizen Staff Writer
SHERYL KORNMAN
skornman@tucsoncitizen.com
A Tucson man who was employed at a Desert Diamond Casino as a “slot floor person” pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to embezzling $644,422 from the casino.
The theft is the “largest casino theft by an employee in Arizona casino history,” said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in a news release.
Adam Thomas Vega, 31, will be sentenced June 19.
Vega pleaded guilty to theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands and to federal tax evasion.
He stole the money from the casino by “fraudulently” obtaining the passwords of supervisors and generating fraudulent jackpot override tickets, according to Raynor.
She said he generated 585 tickets in amounts ranging from $100 to $1,199. She said the amounts were purposely under $1,200 to avoid generating a federal tax withholding form.
The IRS estimated he evaded $205,077 in taxes.
The plea agreement requires him to provide restitution to the Tohono O’odham Nation and pay any back taxes.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million in the casino theft and up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine on the tax evasion charge.