Jackson, Miss. – Reginal Brown, 36, a former employee of the Pearl River Resort – Silver Star Casino pled guilty today to a federal indictment charging him with theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands, announced Acting United States Attorney Darren J. LaMarca.

Brown was a banquet server at the Silver Star Hotel & Casino in the Pearl River Resort.  Between January 2016 and May 2016, Brown used his own password on multiple occasions, to take, for himself, approximately $10,800 from the cash recyclers in the facility.  Casino management discovered the discrepancy in accounting and on video surveillance of the cash recycler area, then reported Brown to law enforcement.  Choctaw Police Department investigators interviewed Brown, and Brown then admitted to taking the money, as charged, from the Casino.  Brown was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2018.

Acting U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca stated, “Federal law imposes severe penalties for crimes committed in licensed gaming establishments.  The great potential for misconduct in these settings calls for constant vigilance and self-discipline of those entrusted with the casinos’ operation.”

Brown will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson on July 7, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

Acting U.S. Attorney LaMarca commended the work of the Choctaw Police Department of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, who investigated the case.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Theodore Cooperstein and Kevin J. Payne.