EL residents facing charges for Bahamas casino scam

NASSAU, Bahamas - Two Americans visitors - a father and son - who were charged with defrauding Atlantis out of tens of thousands of dollars, will have to pay a fine and the casino or serve time in prison.

Richard Bissell Sr., 73, and his son Richard Bissell Jr., 48, of East Liverpool, were charged together in Court 11 with credit by false pretenses.

The younger of the two men pleaded guilty to the charge and the father was subsequently discharged after the son entered a guilty plea.

Bissell Jr. pleaded guilty to incurring a debt at the Atlantis Casino and was able to obtain from the casino $32,550 in credit by means of false pretenses.

After hearing the evidence from prosecutor Inspector Ann-Marie Neely, Magistrate Susan Sylvester fined Bissell Jr. $10,000 or 18 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay Atlantis $16,000 or serve an additional six weeks in prison.

In court on Monday, the men indicated that they were frequent visitors to The Bahamas and would stay at the Atlantis Resort.

During the month of June they said they had traveled to The Bahamas four times. At that time, the resort was having a promotional campaign that gave guests credit ranging from $75 to $1,500. The credit could be used in the casino or throughout the hotel to purchase items.

The campaign was given to guests at random; however, somehow the father and son ended up with the majority of the cards, which were given to guests during the promotion. The men then used the cards to play at the slot machines in the casino.

Their luck eventually ran out after guests at the resort made complaints that whenever they attempted to use their free credit on the card, it was denied and a message indicated that the credit had already been used. This resulted in an internal investigation being conducted by the hotel, which revealed that the two men were in possession of more than 200 of the promotional cards.

The men had already left the country by the time the investigation had concluded but they were arrested on their return trip this month to The Bahamas.

Prosecutor Neely indicated that the men had brought an entourage of family members during the latest trip, and would have likely exhausted the remaining credit on the promotional cards.

At the time of their arrest, the pair was in possession of 230 of the promotional cards with credit valued up to $32,000.

(Bianca Symonette is a reporter for The Nassau Guardian. Story printed with permission from The Nassau Guardian, Nassau, N.P, Bahamas)