Man accused of using 'vibrating device' to cheat at Northern Quest Casino
A 33-year-old man is accused of cheating.
Not by a partner, but by police who say he used a "vibrating device" to manipulate a coin pusher slot machine at Northern Quest Resort & Casino.
Jeremiah K. Villegas faces one count of second-degree cheating and one count of second-degree burglary, the latter charge relating to Villegas being inside the Airway Heights casino last summer when he already had received a 99-year trespass from the business, court records show.
The charge of cheating in Washington is focused on cheating in gambling activities. The maximum punishment for first-degree cheating is five years in prison. Second-degree cheating is a gross misdemeanor and a person is subject to up to a year in jail.
Cheating does not appear to be a common charge defendants face in Spokane County.
The Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has handled three cheating cases the last six years, according to Julie Humphreys, spokesman for the office.
The Washington State Gambling Commission investigates 20 to 30 cheating cases per year statewide, according to Troy Kirby, spokesman for the commission. From January 2025 to April of this year, gambling commission agents investigated 52 cheating cases. None were in Spokane County. Of the 52, seven resulted in criminal charges, Kirby said.
In Tim Note's 22 years as a Spokane defense attorney, he has only defended two clients facing cheating allegations. He said both cases were well over a decade ago and were eventually dismissed. One of his clients was a card dealer and the other was a woman playing a card game.
He said the state gambling commission investigated the cases extensively, saying the case file against the dealer was thicker than a homicide report.
"I know these cases are very thoroughly investigated because there's cameras from all angles," Note said of casino cameras.
At least three cases of cheating were recorded in The Spokesman-Review's Washington court records in the last 12 years.
In October, a man pleaded guilty to first-degree cheating and a firearm charge stemming from a shooting incident in 2024, according to court documents. The case had nothing to do with cheating, but Olson pleaded guilty to the charge as part of a plea deal even though the cheating was unrelated to his actual crime.
In 2016, a man was sentenced to a day in jail and ordered to pay $75 in restitution after pleading guilty to second-degree cheating. The man, a licensed card room employee at Aces Casino in Spokane Valley at the time, saw the dealer's "set" hands in a poker game and then illegally reset his hands to beat the dealer's hands, according to court documents.
In 2014, a man was fined $500 for second-degree cheating, according to Spokesman-Review records.
Villegas was contacted Sept. 3 by a Kalispel Tribal police officer for trespassing at the casino, according to court documents. A Kalispel Tribal Gaming Agency agent informed the officer Villegas may be using a vibrating device on slot machines to steal coins. Two other gaming agents reported they observed Villegas' suspicious behavior from Aug. 26 to Sept. 3 at the casino.
During that nine-day period, video footage from inside the casino and inside the coin pusher slot machines showed Villegas inserting funds into the slot machines and pressing against the sides of the machines with his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, court records say. The machine and its contents vibrated during this time.
He then cashed out from the machines and continued pressing against the sides of them with his hands still in his sweatshirt pocket. Coins fell into the dispenser which would then "trigger bonuses." The footage also showed Villegas kicking the sides of the machines while he was seated playing the game, according to court documents.
The Kalispel Tribal Gaming Agency in June barred Villegas from all Kalispel Tribal properties for 99 years for assaults, threats, and since 2024, "pushing and kicking" coin slot machines. The agency received threatening emails and phone calls from Villegas regarding a slot shift manager contacting Villegas for his suspicious behavior at the coin slot machines, court records show. Security kicked him off the machines or escorted him out of the casino during those contacts with him.
The Kalispel Tribe declined to comment for this story.
Villegas was arrested Oct. 12 and faced 14 counts of second-degree burglary and 14 counts of first-degree cheating. Court records show the 14 counts stemmed from Villegas entering the casino 14 times during the nine-day period in August and September after he was trespassed from the property and for potentially using the vibrating device to manipulate the coin machines the 14 times police say he entered the casino.
He made his first appearance in Spokane County Superior Court the next day and was released on his own recognizance. Prosecutors ultimately reduced the charges, charging Villegas with suspicion of one count of second-degree cheating and one count of second-degree burglary.
Villegas was arrested March 31 on suspicion of fourth-degree assault after police say he hit a man near downtown Spokane. The assault charge violated his release conditions for the pending cheating and burglary trial, so a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He made another first appearance April 13 in Superior Court for his cheating and burglary charges where a judge set Villegas' bond at $5,000. He is set for trial in May.
Villegas remained at Geiger Corrections Center Wednesday and declined an interview with The Spokesman-Review.
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