A Miami man has been arrested for operating a street confidence gambling game scheme that stole thousands of dollars and a Rolex watch from multiple victims, police said.<\/p>\n
Jordan Alexander Bustillo, 20, was arrested Wednesday on charges including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, grand theft with a firearm, obtaining property by gaming, and cannabis possession, arrest reports said.<\/p>\n
According to the reports, Bustillo is the “primary operator” of the game known as Three-card Monte, one of the world’s oldest confidence games in which the victim tries to find a certain card or a ball under a cup.<\/p>\n
“The victim is manipulated through sleight-of-hand techniques, coordinated distraction, and the assistance of possible accomplices posing as successful players or bystanders,” the arrest reports said. “These bystanders typically encourage participation by creating a false impression that the game is legitimate and winnable when in turn the victims are induced into wagering money [they] ultimately lose due to the deceptive practices utilized by the operators of the game.”<\/p>\n
In one case, police had responded on April 30 after a victim said he participated in a bottle cap gambling game with a man known as “Bank Roller,” the reports said.<\/p>\n
The victim said he gave the man $4,000 in cash to participate but later learned from a friend that the suspect was known in the Brickell area for scamming people through the game, the reports said.<\/p>\n
When the victim requested that his money be returned, the suspect refused and fled with the money, the reports said.<\/p>\n
The victim recorded the incident and a detective recognized the suspect as Bustillo, the reports said.<\/p>\n
A second incident happened on May 14 in which a victim said he was near the Crosby Hotel when he was encouraged to join a 3-card Monte game involving finding a ball under a cup.<\/p>\n
The man’s girlfriend wagered $100 and won, but another man placed a $4,000 bet and lost, the reports said.<\/p>\n
The victim placed a $2,000 bet and lost, but the suspect offered another round and told the victim to bet with his Rolex, the reports said.<\/p>\n
The victim handed over his Rolex and lost, and the suspect fled as the victim called police, later telling officers he lost about $4,000 in cash and the Rolex, worth $7,000, the reports said.<\/p>\n
According to the reports, the victim later identified Bustillo as the suspect in a photo lineup.<\/p>\n
Bustillo was taken into custody and was carrying a bag containing over $17,000 in cash, the reports said.<\/p>\n
When Bustillo’s home was searched, investigators found four high-end watches and jewelry, along with a stolen gun and over $16,800 in cash, the reports said.<\/p>\n
Bustillo was booked into jail and was expected to appear in bond court on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Miami man has been arrested for operating a street confidence gambling game scheme that stole thousands of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-287630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}