Bye-Bye, Luck

In the Vista court on Friday, October 2, a Los Angeles man pled not guilty to multiple counts of identity theft and grand theft stemming from his arrest at the Valley View Casino. Judge Hockett set his bail at $100,000, but the suspect remained in custody, unable to post bond.

On September 29, Valley View Casino security guards detained two men on suspicion after one of them withdrew a large sum of cash using an altered credit card. Casino personnel immediately contacted the sheriff's department after it was determined that the account number on the credit card did not belong to him (although the suspect's name was embossed on the card).

Deputies called to the scene arrested the two men after finding a dozen altered credit cards and thousands of dollars’ worth of withdrawal slips from the Valley View Casino, other local North County casinos, and from an Escondido drugstore.

The two men in their 30s were originally charged with grand theft, conspiracy, forgery, and identity theft. The sheriff's department is conducting an investigation into how the credit cards were altered.