NEWS

Man faces felony charges for alleged gambling forgery scheme

Andrea Fisher
anfisher@greatfallstribune.com

A man faces felony charges for allegedly fabricating gambling machine payout tickets to gain nearly $5,000 in false payouts from casinos in Great Falls and other Montana cities.

Eric Crouch is charged with forgery (common scheme) and offering or obtaining anything of value by fraud or operation of illegal gambling device or enterprise, both felonies.

According to charging documents, the Great Falls Police Department contacted a state Gambling Control investigator in January regarding a report of a forged video gambling machine ticket at a local casino. The investigation led to additional forgery reports from other Great Falls establishments.

According to the charging affidavit, the state investigator met with establishment owners and employees, surveyed surveillance video and met with a witness to determine Crouch’s identity and movements within the casinos.

The charging document says Crouch and his attorney met with police in February. Crouch waived his Miranda rights and confessed to the forgery scheme, explaining that he printed out tickets for small amounts, scanned them and changed the numbers with a computer program.

The document says Crouch admitted to the amounts he forged at the casinos. For example, Crouch told investigators he printed a ticket at one establishment for $.80 and changed it to $800.00.

According to documents, Crouch admitted to passing off forged tickets at the Great Falls casinos, along with three establishments in Havre, a bar in Bozeman and an unknown bar in Fort Benton as no casinos in the area have reported a loss so far.

Crouch told police he did the forgeries to obtain drugs, “mainly prescription type.” He also told them he recently moved to Bozeman and got a job at a restaurant in an attempt to “straighten out.” He told investigators he planned to use his tax return to start paying back the casinos.

The report says one of Crouch’s friends drove Crouch to a drug rehab facility in Oregon in early April.

Crouch was summoned for a Wednesday initial court appearance, but neither he nor his attorney were present in court. The hearing was postponed a day to ensure they were properly notified.

The charging document indicates a woman on probation in Great Falls, Jana Leigh Housel, was using forged tickets printed by Crouch at more Great Falls establishments.

The report says Housel spoke with investigators and admitted to four forgeries in Great Falls and four in Missoula. She explained that she printed the tickets and Crouch altered them for her using a printer he plugged into his car.

Charging documents do not indicate Housel faces charges in connection to the scheme. Records show she has a drug possession case pending for alleged heroin possession filed earlier this year. Documents say Housel told officers she has “a bad drug addiction” to heroin, meth and pills.

The report shows this alleged activity occurred after Crouch met with investigators and provided his confession, but before he went to rehab.