Mayor's son is indicted in scam
Jacob Nickels is accused of aiding ring that cheated casinos in cards
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY AND ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTERS
Federal investigators have charged 24 people -- including the son of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels -- with participating in a multistate casino-cheating scheme that had bribed employees dealing pre-recorded, unshuffled playing cards.
· Read the indictments: I | II
Teams of suspects, led by members of a San Diego area family, are accused in grand jury indictments of fanning out to 18 casinos around the country to execute the "false shuffle" scam in games of blackjack and mini-baccarat.
Two of the targeted casinos were in Western Washington: the Emerald Queen Casino near Fife, which reported losing about $1 million; and the Nooksack River Casino in Whatcom County, with losses topping $90,000.
Seattle Public Library
Jacob Nickels in a 1999 Garfield High School yearbook photo.
Jacob Nickels, 25, was a pit boss at the Nooksack Tribe casino in summer 2005 when he accepted $5,000 to introduce one of the alleged conspirators to willing dealers, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Federal officials said among those charged was at least one "cooperating witness" who assisted federal agents in making the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tate London would not say whether Nickels is a cooperating witness.
Two of the 12 Washington state defendants, George Lee and Tien Duc Vu, won more than $90,000 on mini-baccarat at the Nooksack casino with the help of Nickels and two dealers, Levi Seth Mayfield and Kasey James McKillip, according to the indictment.
Nickels is charged with one count of conspiracy and four counts of theft of funds from a gaming establishment on Indian lands. The conspiracy count carries a maximum five-year prison term, and each theft count carries a 10-year term.
Federal sentencing guidelines, however, would significantly reduce any sentence levied against Nickels should he be found guilty because Nickels, who lives in Bellingham, has no criminal record, court records show.
Mayor Nickels released a written statement Thursday and declined to comment further.
"Sharon and I have just learned of the charges involving our son Jacob," the statement reads. "We will be encouraging him to cooperate fully with the investigation. Until we know more we will have no comment on the substance of these allegations. We love our son deeply and will be supporting him fully throughout this difficult time."
As the news trickled through City Hall Thursday afternoon, many were stunned as they followed the breaking story at their desks via the Internet.
"It's startling news, of course, but we don't know what to make of it," said City Councilwoman Jean Godden.
The surprise quickly gave way to sympathy for the Nickels family.
"It's come as quite a shock. I would describe it as disbelief, frankly," said City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck. "But also a sense of sympathy for Mayor Nickels and the family."
King County Councilman Dow Constantine, of West Seattle, said he's known Jacob for about 20 years. "I've always known him to be really genially, polite, soft-spoken and just a decent guy," Constantine said. "Jake's a good kid and I'm hoping that these charges aren't sustained. But if they are, he clearly made a big mistake -- but he's still a good kid."
Nickels had already taken this week off work because he is on bereavement leave. Nickels' father, Robert Charles Nickels, died May 13 in his West Seattle home.
In all, three indictments were unsealed Thursday -- two in Seattle and one in San Diego -- which charged 24 defendants in an alleged racketeering enterprise dating as far back as March 2002. Twelve people were named in two indictments in Seattle.
Of the 18 targeted casinos in California, Washington, Connecticut, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada and Indiana, 10 are owned by tribes. FBI officials in San Diego called the investigation the biggest casino-cheating case ever tackled by federal authorities.
Players participating in the scheme would signal the dealer to do a false shuffle and then bet on the known order of the cards, according to the indictment. They would routinely walk away big winners -- on one occasion netting $850,000.
The ring was also technologically savvy, using hidden transmitters and special software to predict the order in which cards would appear, authorities said.
In the Nooksack Casino scam, alleged conspirator Lee showed the bribed dealers "how to manipulate the shuffling of cards used in the game of mini-Baccarat so that it would appear that the dealer is fully and completely shuffling the cards," according to the indictment.
A similar con was run at the Puyallup Tribe's Emerald Queen Casino near Fife. As a mini-baccarat game proceeded, one of the conspirators would record the cards being dealt. Then a bogus shuffle was performed and the member of the "cheat team" would signal his cohorts that it was time to bet big.
The first indictment in Seattle was returned under seal in February 2006 and alleged a scheme to steal more than $1 million from the Emerald Queen Casino. The second, returned under seal in March, included Nickels.
Nickels worked at the Nooksack casino from October 2003 to October 2006, according to tribal spokesman Pat Check.
"Our tribal gaming agency and surveillance identified suspicious activity on a card table, and we notified the state gaming agency" in October 2005, Check said.
After seeing videotape of the suspicious activity on a mini-baccarat table, the casino determined illegal activity was occurring and banned the players, the tribe said in a statement. After sharing the video with other casinos, the tribe discovered that Lee had been identified as an alleged "casino cheat" in similar scams in Oregon.
Puyallup Tribe spokesman John Weymer said the Emerald Queen was the first of the casinos to pick up on the scam from surveillance tapes and report it to authorities.
On Thursday, Weymer issued this reminder to all those who enter the Emerald Queen: "Not only are our customers under observation, but so is our staff at all times."
Weymer said the casino relies on its screening process and training to keep employees honest and weed out those tempted to cheat.
The defendants from Western Washington remain free pending an appearance in U.S. District Court on June 1 and June 7, London said.
WHAT'S MINI-BACCARAT?
Mini-baccarat is played under the same rules as American baccarat, but gives players the opportunity to play the game with lower betting limits in a more relaxed atmosphere.
The mini-baccarat table is the size of a blackjack table with seven places for players. Cards are drawn from a six-deck shoe. The objective is to draw a two- or three-card hand that totals closer to 9 than the banker. 10, J, K, Q count as 0, A is a 1 and all other cards are face value.
Play begins with players betting either on the player, banker or a tie. After all bets are down, the dealer gives two cards each to the player and the banker.
The score of the hand is the right digit of the total of the cards. For example, if the two cards were an 8 and 7, then the total would be 15 and the score would be a 5. The scores will always range from 0 to 9 and it is impossible to bust.
Source: P-I research
This report includes information from P-I reporters Colin McDonald and Daniel Lathrop and The Associated Press. P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com.
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