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Derek Bethea, 57, of Bayonne, placed a $1,100 bet at a craps table at the Borgata last Aug. 15 after the dice already came up, collected the winnings — and then was detained by security at the Tropicana the next day and issued a summons, an Atlantic County jury found last month after a week-long trial.
Two weeks later, he placed a $505 bet at a craps table at Resorts, again after the winner was determined. Resorts refused to pay, and Bethea got another summons.
He was at Revel the very next day, laying $240, collecting and then finally being arrested at the Atlantic City Hilton.
Bethea had been held on $30,000 bail in the Atlantic County Jail since then. A judge revoked bail after the May 13 conviction.
Bethea was convicted of a similar offense 2001 and sentenced to three years in state prison — and again in September 2005. He served nearly eight years before being released last July.
That makes 11 of the past 13 years that Bethea has spent incarcerated, in addition to the past 10 months in the county jail.
He must serve at least seven years of today’s sentence before he will be eligible for parole, state Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said.
New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Kelly Biringer, Detective Kenneth Crane and members of the New Jersey State Police Casino Investigations Unit coordinated the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Biringer represented the state at the trial.
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