1 Plead Guilty In Card-Marking Scheme At Lummi Indian Casino

SEATTLE - Ten people have pleaded guilty in federal court here in connection with an illegal card-marking operation at the Lummi Indian Casino near Bellingham.

The U.S. attorney's office said the card-marking scheme operated for 74 weekends from July 1992 to April 1994 and netted more than $800,000 profit.

A spokeswoman said three casino employees, Larry Thompson, Lorna Jeanne Thompson and Gerald Rogers, would remove cards from the casino, give them to others to be marked and then return them to the casino.

Three others, Richard George Riolo, Wesley Lyle Tschirgi and Bobby Harris Whitson, then would read the marked cards and signal to others how to play. Those players were Robert Lee Pleines, Paul David Tomlinson and William Gene Land.

A 10th person, Shelley Lyunn Cohen, assisted in the conspiracy, according to the U.S. attorney, by renting cars for out-of-town players and helping mark the cards.

Riolo, who was charged with heading the organization and initially targeting the Lummi casino, pleaded guilty to racketeering. Whitson also has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Most of the others pleaded guilty to conspiracy.