PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania State Police are trying to track down two people from Mississippi charged with scamming Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino out of thousands of dollars.
Shaun Benward, 35, and Denielle Derohan, 42, are accused of conning the casino out of $10,500 over a 24-hour period from February 18-19, playing roulette.
Court documents allege Benward would distract the roulette dealer while the wheel was spinning and Derohan would watch the ball land on the winning number before relaying that number to Benward.
Authorities say Benward would then place a bet on that winning number before the dealer realized what happened.
Police paperwork shows the pair are known associates from previous incidents at casinos.
Benward is listed on the Gaming Control Board’s Website as being banned from Pennsylvania casinos stemming from a 2015 incident in Mount Airy.
According to the Pocono Record, he and another man were charged after trying a similar roulette scheme.
Rivers Casino’s policy is to only check IDs for people who appear under 30.
Benward is also on banned lists in multiple other states, including Michigan and Missouri.
According to the Kenosha County, Wisconsin Sheriff, Derohan was arrested there in 2020 on disorderly conduct and battery charges.
Here locally, both Derohan and Benward face charges for felony theft by deception and misdemeanor fraudulent scheme.
Benward is also charged with driving on a suspended license.
If you know where Benward and Derohan are, you’re asked to contact Pennsylvania State Police.
Rivers Casino is working with the police, telling Channel 11 in a statement, “Rivers Casino Pittsburgh has over a thousand surveillance cameras monitoring the property 24/7. We cooperated fully with Pennsylvania State Police during their investigation.”
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