TEMECULA: Casino drug bust nets 2 suspects

BY PATRICK ONEILL / STAFF WRITER

Published: July 16, 2016 

Two Orange County residents suspected of drug-related crimes were arrested Saturday, July 16, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

Rudy Torres and Karina Melgoa, both residents of Santa Ana, are being held at the Southwest Detention Center on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department news release states.

At 5:24 a.m., deputies responded to the casino, located in the 45000 block of Pechanga Parkway, in response to reports of drug activity at a vehicle inside the parking structure.

During a preliminary search, deputies found a large amount of methamphetamine and heroin in Torres’ clothes, the release states. A subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered 183 grams of methamphetamine and various drug contraband.

http://www.pe.com/articles/residents-808392-crimes-torres.html

Citibank And Casino Cash Gone In 60 Seconds And Bad Guys Comped

Citibank And Casino Cash Gone In 60 Seconds And Bad Guys Comped

Bill Singer, Contributor

To Ara Keshishyan’s credit, he had an idea – illegal as it may have been – and he ran with it. According to a federal Indictment unsealed on October 26, 2012, in the Southern District of California, Keshishyan recruited at least 13 individuals, all of whom were recently arrested in the Los Angeles, CA area, as part of a conspiracy. The rip-off isn’t all that complicated in terms of its goal but the mechanism of getting there was damn clever.

Here’s what the Indictment alleges:

Ara Keshishyan put together a crew and gave each of the participants so-called “seed money,” which they deposited into Citibank checking accounts that each had recently opened. Thereafer, the crew traveled to the following casinos:

• California: Morongo, Pechanga, San Manuel, Agua Caliente, Chukchansi, and Spa Resort
• Nevada: Tropicana, Wynn, Bicycle, and Whiskey Pete’s (Las Vegas); and Harrah’s (Laughlin)

After arriving at their targeted casino, the conspirators went to on-premise cash advance kiosks and withdrew multiples of the deposits that they had previously made into the Citibank accounts.

Apparently, Keshishyan had discovered a glitch in Citibank’s security protocol whereby multiple withdrawals made within 60 seconds of each other at the kiosks would result in cash payments from the various cages at the casinos. The deposits and withdrawals were each kept under the federal transaction reporting level of $10,000 so as to conceal detection.

Being the alleged brains of the operation, Keshishyan kept the collected funds and doled out cuts to his conspirators. His take was generally used for gambling. On top of having gamed the Citibank cash advance process, Keshishyan and his crew were often “comped” into the casinos with free rooms based upon the level of their gambling.

NOTE: An indictment merely contains allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The defendants include: Ara Keshishyan, 29; Ara Harutyunyan, 30; Artur Harutyunyan, 24; Vahe Asatrian, 29; Sarkis Mooshidian, 37; Levon Karamyan, 58; Migran Yamalyan, 30; Seryozha Harutyunyan, 59; Lianna Avetisyan, 24; Ashot Oganisyan, 30; Ovsep Sarfyan, 33; Daniel J. Thomas, 56; Hilda Hakverdyan, 53; and Asatur Asatryan,33. As of October 30, 2012, Levon Karamyan remains a fugitive. All 14 indicted defendants were charged with conspiracies to:

• commit bank fraud and
• to illegally structure financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements.,

Each of the conspiracy charges is punishable by up to five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.
Defendant Keshishyan is additionally charged with 14 counts of bank fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The indictment also alleges forfeiture in connection with the crimes charged.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billsinger/2012/10/29/citibank-and-casino-cash-gone-in-60-seconds-and-bad-guys-comped/

Disenrolled

Thousands of Native Americans are being kicked out of tribes across the US dis enrolled





Thousands of Native American Indians are illegaly being kicked off reservations and kicked out of tribes all over the US! http://www.NewsForNatives.com

Dis enrolled, Dis enfranchised, Exiled, whatever you want to call it, its happening to thousands of Indians across America. Apparently what the whites FAILED to do, money, or at least the love of it, is now accomplishing.

Thousands of Native Americans are being kicked out of their tribes. Many of these outcast Indians have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt through genealogy, historical documents and deeds and other documents that they are members of their tribe but all to no avail. These Indians without a tribe and without land are being kicked off of the reservations, kicked out of the schools, exiled and ostracized.

In some cases, the tribal councils own efforts to prove they are not of direct lineal decent have proven that the subjects ARE of enough blood to be a member, sometimes even more blood than the accusers.

What would cause entire families of Indians to be uprooted from their homes where they have lived their entire lives, some who even built the homes they lived in, to suddenly be kicked out? What would cause tribes all over the country to start kicking thousands of its own members out into the street with no recourse for appeal or even a trial of any type? according to the tribes, [its] Citizenship decisions are an integral and important process the tribe uses to preserve our lineage Critics say that it is all about money. Its simple math; The more Indians are kicked out, the greater casino allowance for the remaining tribal members.

One has only to look at Mark Macarro and the Pechanga conflict or Stanley Crooks and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux to see clearly the amount of favoritism, injustice and Tribal Corruption that is running rampant all across the United States, or at least wherever there are casinos involved.

Members of some tribes make 30+ thousand dollars per month per person. Yes, that means a family of 8 would make $240,000 per month. But apparently thats just not enough, they have to make more and more and more so they start dropping the families with the least amount of pull, with the least say in affairs.

Many people might be thinking, "what has this got to do with me? Well, many of the Indians who were kicked out of the tribe are on government assistance plans, so YOUR taxes are paying for the food, shelter, education, medical, etc of Indians whose tribes make HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS per year!

When Mashpee Wampanoag elders tried to investigate former tribal chairman Glenn Marshall's abuses of Tribe finances - later convicted on multiple felonies for associated with illegal campaign contribution and other fraud associated with the... Tribe's early casino development efforts, the Tribal Council voted to shun them and kick them out of the tribe. Guess who was on the tribal council and voted to kick out the elders at that time? Current chairman Cedric Cromwell.

http://64.38.12.138/News/2007/000809.asp

Reservations are for the benefited of the members of the tribes, well, funny things is the smaller the tribe, the more beneficial it is to a very small few.