Parkwest Casino 580 Security Guard Accused of $100K Diamond Ring Theft

• Guard allegedly stole a ring worth $100K
• He was caught on security footage despite checking his surroundings first
• The casino was previously hit by a multimillion-dollar baccarat scheme

A security guard at a California cardroom has been charged with stealing a diamond ring from a high-rolling player, The Mercury News reports.

The unnamed suspect is alleged to have pocketed the ring, worth $100K, after its owner accidentally dropped it on the floor at the Parkwest Casino 580 in Livermore, Calif. on June 22.

The high roller told authorities he brought the ring to the casino to show it off to a friend, but he believes it must have dropped from his pocket when he stood up from the poker table. A dealer later recovered the ring, which was still in its box, and handed it to security.

Caught on Camera

The guard’s alleged crime was unsophisticated. On receiving the box, they checked around to make sure no one was looking before stealthily removing the ring and placing it in their pocket.

But they didn’t realize they were being watched by the eye in the sky — surprising, given that you’d expect a security guard to know where the security cameras are.

The 49-year-old security guard, from Stockton, confessed, and the ring was returned to its rightful owner.

$4M Baccarat Scam

Parkwest Casino 580 has had some bad luck with its hires in recent years. In 2022, a dealer at the cardroom, Khanh “Tina” Tran, and her husband, Eric Nguyen, were sentenced to prison time for orchestrating a $4 million EZ baccarat cheating scheme at the property.

Tran and Nguyen pleaded guilty to felony grand theft in connection with the scheme, which took place over several months in 2015 and 2016, and involved Tran peeking at the sequence of cards after shuffling.

She then passed that information to her husband via text messages, who would sit at her table and gamble.

By betting only when he had advance knowledge of the outcome, Nguyen avoided most losses and took home significantly more money than a typical player.

Also in 2022, a blackjack dealer was investigated for embezzling thousands of dollars in casino chips from Parkwest 580, according to The Mercury News. She claimed she had been sending the proceeds to an impoverished cousin in return for “hugs.”