Nickels' son indicted with dozens in scheme to cheat casinos

Jacob Dyson Nickels, the son of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, has been indicted as part of an investigation into a multi-state casino-cheating ring that allegedly stole millions of dollars by bribing casino employees to falsely shuffle decks.

Nickels, 25, was a pit boss at the Nooksack Indian Tribe's Nooksack River Casino in Whatcom County in the summer of 2005 when he accepted $5,000 to introduce one of the ring's alleged conspirators to crooked dealers, according to an indictment unsealed today at U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Two of the defendants, George Lee and Tien Duc Vu, won more than $90,000 on mini-baccarat that October with the help of Nickels and two dealers, Levi Seth Mayfield and Kasey James McKillip, the indictment said.

Mayor Nickels said today he and his wife Sharon had only "just learned of the charges involving our son Jacob."

"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," Nickels said in a prepared statement.

The mayor is on bereavement leave this week; his father, Robert Nickels, died May 13.

Jacob Nickels is charged with one count of conspiracy and four counts of theft of funds from a gaming establishment on Indian lands in the five-count indictment. He attended Western Washington University until last summer. He did not graduate.

During a news conference this afternoon in Seattle, J. Tate London, assistant U.S. Attorney, said Jacob Nickels is not in custody.

A spokeswoman for the Nooksack Tribe said Jacob Nickels worked at the casino from Oct. 29, 2003 until Oct. 17, 2006. He started as a table-game dealer and was a table-game supervisor, or pit boss, when he left.

The spokeswoman declined to say why he left, citing human resources confidentiality.

In all, three indictments were unsealed today — two in Seattle and one in San Diego — naming 24 defendants in an alleged racketeering enterprise dating from March 2002.

Twelve people were named in two indictments in Seattle; seven of them were also indicted in San Diego.

Of the 18 targeted casinos in California, Washington and Indiana, 10 were owned by tribes.

The group used "false shuffle" cheating schemes during blackjack and mini baccarat games, the Justice Department said. The schemes involved bribes to casino supervisors and card dealers and use of blocks of unshuffled cards, the indictments said.

Members of the organization allegedly would signal a card dealer to do a false shuffle and then bet on the known order of the cards, winning more than $850,000 on one occasion.

The indictments also alleged that the ring used hidden transmitters and special software to predict the order in which cards would appear.

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 near Fife. The second, returned under seal in March, included Nickels.

The Western Washington defendants will be summoned to appear in federal court for arraignment June 1 and June 7, the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle said in a news release.

Two other defendants have been arrested in Canada in connection with a related cheating scheme in Ontario, the U.S. attorney's office said.Pat Check, Nooksack Tribal administrator, said that in October 2005 casino security cameras picked up "suspicious activity" at a baccarat card table.

The tribes gaming agency started an internal investigation and contacted the Washington State Gambling Commission, the National Indian Gaming Commission, the FBI and the California Department of Justice.

Officials in California were contacted because there was already an ongoing investigation into casino corruption there, he said.

Check said that when the indictments were unsealed, the Nooksack Tribe wasn't fully aware of how widespread they would be.

None of the people indicted are tribal members, he said.

"We believe all the agencies did a very good job in catching this early at our casino. It could have been a lot worse."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com