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Two Accused for Forging Slot Tokens

"Michigan State Police nabbed the men July 18 after being contacted by U.S. Customs at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. Customs agents detained the men for questioning when they acted suspiciously as they traveled into the United States from Windsor.

"A search of their car uncovered an electronic `bench grinder' and 828 slot tokens, most of which were bogus, fashioned from blank metal slugs and patterned after legitimate coins. The genuine tokens were from casinos in Mississippi, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada and Canada, including Casino Windsor.

"Bobby Dee Luman, 49, of Kansas City, Mo., and Michael Anthony Nichols, 47, of Carter Lake, Iowa, were arraigned July 20 in 36th District Court in Detroit. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

"Charges against the men include possession of a device to alter the outcome of a gambling game, and conspiracy to alter the outcome of a game. If convicted of the felonies, each man faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine.

"…The complaints against Luman and Nichols state that between July 12 and July 18, the pair traveled to several North American casinos to cheat the gambling halls by collecting legitimate tokens and then `shaving' a metal blank, like a slug, cut or ground to simulate the size and shape of a genuine token. When accurately shaved with a grinder, the counterfeit tokens can be used like cash in a slot, allowing a cheater to play a machine for free.

"So far, forged tokens haven't been a big problem in Detroit, [Eric Eggan, assistant in charge of the attorney general's casino unit] said. Routine cheating accounts for most of the state's cases involving crimes against Detroit casinos…"

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