A 54-years old New Jersey man accused of cheating with marked cards over the weekend told
detectives he came to Mohegan Sun to raise bond money for his anticipated
cheating arrest in the state of Louisiana.
Bruce Koloshi of Summit, N.J., also known as Jeffrey William Elliot, was
arraigned Monday in Superior Court in Norwich on charges that he was marking
cards at a Mississippi Stud poker table with a type of ink visible only with
special contact lenses. Koloshi has cheating convictions in Nevada, Iowa and
Illinois, according to court records.
Taken into custody at a poker table early Sunday morning after a surveillance
operator notified state police that Koloshi appeared to be cheating, Koloshi
told a state police detective he was supposed to turn himself in to authorities
in Baton Rouge, La., on Wednesday to face charges that he was using invisible
ink to mark cards at L'Auberge Casino, according to police report.
"Koloshi stated he was here at the casino in an attempt to raise bond for his
Louisiana arrest warrant," according to the report.
Judge Kevin P. McMahon noted at the arraignment that Connecticut might
want its "pound of flesh" from Koloshi before releasing him to Louisiana
authorities. McMahon set Koloshi's bond at $300,000 and continued the
case to Sept. 27. Koloshi is charged with cheating, conspiracy to commit
larceny, criminal impersonation and being a fugitive from justice.
According to the report by Detective Patrick Collins of the state police Casino
Licensing & Operations Unit, Mohegan Sun surveillance operator Sharon
Cunningham contacted detectives at 1:55 a.m. on Sunday after noticing a
player at a Mississippi Stud table looked like the man depicted as a "known c
ard cheat" on a security bulletin from the Delaware Division of Gaming Enforcement. Cunningham told the detectives that when she reviewed video footage of Koloshi's play, she could see that he was "clearly marking the cards." The ink he was using could only be seen when the video was viewed in black and white, according to the report.
Cheaters mark cards so that they can gain an advantage by placing hi
gher bets when they know which card will be played.
Koloshi became nervous when he was taken into custody and began fidgeting
with his fingers, according to the report. The police put his fingers in zip ties
to prevent him from further rubbing them together. They removed from his
jacket pocket a small piece of fabric with ink on it attached to a small piece
of a dollar bill. The police also seized from Koloshi $930 in Mohegan Sun chips
and $2,943 in cash.
Noting that Koloshi was wearing both eyeglasses and contact lenses,
Detective Collins said Koloshi eventually admitted the contacts "were d
esigned to see things that you normally wouldn't be able to see," according
to the report. The detective seized the contact lenses as evidence.
"The patron also admitted to me during questioning that he was in fact
marking the cards and has done this at several casinos," according to the
report.
Koloshi initially provided the detective with a driver's license indicating he
was Jeffrey Elliott of Cliffside Park, N.J., but the detective was able to
determine his true identity after running his fingerprints through the
Automated Fingerprint Identification System database.
Koloshi's attorney, John D. Maxwell, said at the arraignment that Koloshi is
the married father of four grown children who has worked as a stockbroker,
real estate agent and most recently as a home improvement contractor.
His wife was present in court. poker lenses