Men jailed over fruit machine con (From Oxford Mail)
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Men jailed over fruit machine con
6:00pm Friday 22nd October 2010 in News By Thom Airs
A gang of men have been jailed for a total of more than 10 years for stealing £40,000 in pound coins from gambling machines.
The group used electronic devices to trick high-stakes gambling machines at services stations, including Cherwell Valley on the M40, into paying out £500 jackpots.
Thomas Wheatcroft, Paul Hircombe, James Sharpe, Charlie Shaw and Adam Barnard, all from Portsmouth, were jailed at Oxford Crown Court yesterday after earlier admitting conspiracy to steal.
Darren Carrick, of Cosham, earlier admitted money laundering the pound coins and was also jailed.
A seventh man will be sentenced on Monday.
Comments(3)
Peeter Mcvey
says...
9:10pm Fri 22 Oct 10
rickenback wrote:All they did was to turn the odds in their favour. Fruities are not known as ROB BOXES for nothing.
service stations use the electronics to make sure the machines dont pay out...so whos the criminal?both i say...
EBTWO
says...
11:02am Mon 25 Oct 10
rickenback wrote:The Government ensure that machines DO pay out the required amount, 94% in the case of these machines in question.
service stations use the electronics to make sure the machines dont pay out...so whos the criminal?both i say...
These guys were using devices to defraud (ie steal) from the machines. It's no different from someone robbing a shop.
rickenback says...
6:53pm Fri 22 Oct 10