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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
announced that a New York couple was sentenced
to prison today after pleading guilty in
July to receiving stolen property for gambling
at the Borgata with $1 million that the
woman stole from her employer.
According
to Gramiccioni, Jamine Alabre, 28, of Westbury,
N.Y., and her boyfriend, Mathurin Ambroise,
34, of St. Albans, N.Y., were sentenced
today by Superior Court Judge Bernard E.
DeLury Jr. in Atlantic County. Alabre was
sentenced to five years in state prison,
and Ambroise was sentenced to three years
in state prison. Each pleaded guilty in
July to a charge of second-degree receiving
stolen property. The judge ordered the defendants
to pay full restitution.
On
Jan. 17, 2007, the Division of Criminal
Justice obtained an indictment charging
the couple with money laundering and receiving
stolen property. Warrants were issued, and
they were arrested that day by the Nassau
County, N.Y., Sheriff’s Department.
Alabre had been charged in New York in 2005
with grand larceny for stealing $1 million
from her former employer, IPSOS, an international
marketing firm on Long Island.
The
indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal
Justice Major Crimes Bureau alleged that
between January and October 2005, Alabre
and Ambroise laundered more than $500,000
of the stolen cash using slot machines in
Atlantic City casinos, particularly the
Borgata Hotel and Casino. Alabre and Ambroise
were observed by Borgata personnel in May
2005 putting large amounts of currency into
the high limit slot machines. Borgata personnel
alerted the Financial Crimes Unit of the
New Jersey State Police Casino Gaming Bureau,
which investigated.
In
pleading guilty, Alabre admitted she stole
$1 million from IPSOS. She and Ambroise
each admitted that they used the cash to
gamble at the Borgata. IPSOS conducts market
surveys in which cash payments are included
in mailings as an incentive for recipients
to participate. As an accounting coordinator,
Alabre was responsible for obtaining the
cash needed for mailings from the bank.
She inflated cash orders, stealing the additional,
unauthorized cash she had requested.
The
investigation was led by Detective Sgt.
First Class Paul Spirit of the State Police
Financial Crimes Unit. Detective Eric Weiss
of the Division of Gaming Enforcement assisted
in the investigation. Deputy Attorney General
Yvonne Maher of the Division of Criminal
Justice Casino Prosecutions Bureau prosecuted
the case and handled today’s sentencing
hearing.
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