South Dakota blackjack scammer convicted of witness tampering
A convicted blackjack cheater from Aberdeen has been jailed again after pleading guilty to intimidating a witness - his wife.
Jordan Anthony Rondell, 36, was part of a gang that conspired on New Year's Eve 2015 to steal $10,000 from the Dakota Sioux Casino near Watertown, South Dakota.
Rundle and his accomplices were sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay $8,700 in restitution to the casino. Before that, they were found guilty of conspiring to commit theft with employees of a gambling company in India.
In January 2023, Rundle was placed on supervised release for "intentionally harassing another person to prevent that person from cooperating with a federal court proceeding," the plea agreement said.
Wrong statement
In late January, Rundle filed a petition to be placed in the care of his wife to help him treat what he said was a pre-existing back problem.
In February 2023, the court heard testimony from Rundle's wife about the situation, which federal investigators later determined was "materially false."
Video footage provided by prosecutors showed Rundle violating and admitting to the terms of his supervised release while coaching and coaching his wife to provide testimony to a federal judge as part of a plea agreement.
"Rondell knowingly and corruptly harassed his spouse into making false statements in order to obtain his release from federal custody," the statement said.
Last week, he was sentenced to three years in prison and one year of supervised release for witness tampering.
Inner Workings
Rundle was a regular at the Dakota Sioux Casino. In December 2015, he hatched a plan with dealers Fem Gill and Jeremy Brown to cheat at the blackjack game.
Court documents show that on New Year's Eve and into the early hours of New Year's Day, Rundle played blackjack for long periods of time, but only at tables where Brown or Gill dealt the cards.
Both croupiers agreed to pay Rondell his losses and push the cards. On several occasions, Rondell played three hands simultaneously and bet $100 on each hand, the casino's maximum amount.
Meanwhile, pit boss Lito Bolocon fell into the scam and allowed it to run under his watch. Rundle agreed to share the ill-gotten gains with his three associates as per the original agreement.
The conspirators faced up to 20 years in prison before agreeing to the deal.
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Source: www.casino.org