| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 19, 2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that Peter Daniel Collins, Daniel Ivan Porter, and Emily Katherine Weitzel have all been sentenced as of yesterday for perpetrating a sophisticated heist of the Cher-Ae-Heights Indian Casino in Trinidad, California. Peter Daniel Collins was sentenced yesterday to time served in prison (approximately 11 months) and ordered to pay $500 in special assessments. Daniel Ivan Porter was sentenced on November 30, 2007 to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $500 in special assessments. Emily Katherine Weitzel was sentenced on November 9, 2007 to 12 months and a day in prison and order to pay $400 in special assessments. Additionally, all defendants are jointly and severally liable for $26,540 in restitution. This sentence is the result of an investigation by the California Department of Justice, Division of Gambling Control, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Mr. Porter pleaded guilty on September 7, 2007 to conspiring to violate federal law in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, theft from an Indian Casino in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1167(b), interstate transportation of stolen money in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314, and two counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). According to court documents, including a criminal complaint and plea agreements, Mr. Porter, Ms. Weitzel and Mr. Collins worked together to successfully steal $198,000 from the vault in the caged work room at the casino. Mr. Porter was the “inside man” who worked as an employee in the surveillance room of the Casino and had keys and electronic access to three security doors leading to the casino vault and to the vault itself. Ms. Weitzel was the “handoff woman” to whom Mr. Porter transferred his security keys while she played slots in the Casino. Ms. Weitzel then handed the keys off to Mr. Collins, who was disguised as a Casino security officer. Mr. Collins proceeded to use the keys, as well as additional assistance from Mr. Porter from the surveillance room, to unlock the doors to the caged security room that contained the vault. To avoid detection from an employee in the caged security room, Mr. Collins crawled his way to the vault, and was assisted by Ms. Weitzel, who called and distracted the employee with a four-minute telephone conversation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Collins accessed the vault and deposited $198,000 cash into a duffel bag that he had concealed in his pants pocket. Surveillance footage showed that Mr. Collins communicated with Mr. Porter during the heist by way of a “bluetooth” wireless headset and asked him whether it was clear to come out of the caged security room. Once Mr. Collins left the caged security room, he handed the keys back to Ms. Weitzel, who then returned the keys to Mr. Porter. Mr. Collins drove away, by himself, in a sedan that had been parked at the Casino. Ms. Weitzel followed in a second car that had been parked at the Casino.
The night before the actual theft, two of the defendants participated in a dress rehearsal, where Mr. Porter manipulated some of the cameras in the security area and Mr. Collins did a “phone test” to check cell phone reception in the area. Prior to the dress rehearsal, the defendants met on at least one occasion to plan and prepare for the heist as well.
Soon after the heist, Mr. Collins and Ms. Weitzel traveled to Washington State where, using the aliases “John Hollins” and “Julie Andrews” respectively, they each wired $950 to Mr. Porter in California to begin splitting up the proceeds. Mr. Collins also purchased a Ford Mustang in Washington State with over $21,000 in cash. Subsequent searches conducted at Mr. Collins’s and Ms. Weitzel’s Marysville, Washington residence revealed additional evidence, such as a silver briefcase containing approximately $151,000 in U.S. currency from the Casino heist.
All defendants were subject to a sentencing enhancement because of the complexity and sophistication of the heist. Additionally, Mr. Porter was subject to additional enhancements because he admitted that he was the organizer, leader, and manager of the conspiracy and that he abused his position of trust as a security specialist at the casino.
Mr. Porter, 37, of McKinleyville, California, Mr. Collins, 35, of Marysville, Washington, and Ms. Weitzel, 22, of Marysville, Washington were indicted by a federal grand jury on January 25, 2007.
The sentences were handed down by United States District Judge Susan Illston following guilty pleas to all counts: conspiring to violate federal law in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, theft from an Indian Casino in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1167(b), interstate transportation of stolen money in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314, use of over $10,000 of stolen funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (Mr. Collins only) and money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(I) (two counts for Mr. Porter). Judge Illston also sentenced the defendants to three-year periods of supervised release, and $26,540 in joint and several restitution. Mr. Porter will begin serving his sentence by February 29, 2008, Ms. Weitzel will begin serving her sentence by January 11, 2008. Mr. Collins has already completed his sentence.
Robert David Rees is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Nai Saelee, Sheryl Castillo, and Karem Alvarez. The prosecution is the result of a two and a half month investigation by the California Department of Justice, Division of Gambling Control, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, with the generous assistance of the Washington State Patrol, the U.S. Marshal’s Service of the Northern District of California and the Western District of Washington, the Snohomish County, Washington Regional Drug Task Force, the Arlington, Washington Police Department, the Snohomish County, Washington Sheriff’s Office, the Marysville, Washington Police Department, and the Trinidad, California Police Department.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 07-0045 SI
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.