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<p>PLAINS TWP. &#8212; A Dallas man must pay more than he allegedly stole from the Mohegan Sun Pocono Casino to post bail, a district judge ruled Wednesday.</p><p>Mark Heltzel, 51, and Rochelle Poszeluznyj, 37, of Kingston, appeared before Magisterial District Judge Joseph D. Spagnuolo Jr. for their preliminary arraignments Wednesday morning.</p><p>After reading the charges, Spagnuolo set Heltzel&#8217;s bail at $500,000 cash. Heltzel&#8217;s attorney Demetrius Fannick argued he had an agreement with the prosecution on $150,000 bail, or 10 percent. Spagnuolo, however, said he set bail at $500,000 due to the severity of the charges and Heltzel&#8217;s flight risk.</p><p>Heltzel, who initially had a calm demeanor, appeared to be visibly upset after Spagnuolo made the bail determination. He was escorted out of the court in handcuffs and taken into custody.</p><p>Fannick said he was &#8220;very upset&#8221; about the bail set for his client. He explained that he had an agreement with the prosecution earlier that morning for a specific bail amount of $150,000, or 10 percent.</p><p>&#8220;That was not mentioned to the magistrate when we arrived,&#8221; Fannick said. &#8220;I think this a notice to be sent to every defense lawyer in Luzerne County as far as dealings with the district attorney&#8217;s office and the state police as far as reaching agreements.&#8221;</p><p>Fannick added that he and Heltzel even went as far as going to a bank to get the $15,000 needed for Heltzel to make bail, something he questioned after his client was taken away in handcuffs.</p><p>&#8220;This was a setup on bail from the get-go, and I&#8217;m very disturbed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is just for show.&#8221;</p><p>Fannick went on to call the bail &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; and not reflective of the charges filed.</p><p>Assistant District Attorney Thomas Marsilio, however, disagreed and called the charges &#8220;serious&#8221; and &#8220;severe.&#8221; He added that the issue of bail is left to the discretion of the magisterial district judge.</p><p>&#8220;The magisterial district judge rejected my recommendation, and therefore, made his own decision,&#8221; Marsilio said.</p><p>Poszeluznyj&#8217;s bail was set at $100,000 unsecured, and while she left with her freedom intact, she did not leave quietly.</p><p>Poszeluznyj arrived at Spagnuolo&#8217;s office with two other woman and a man. Poszeluznyj and the other women all wore matching coats with their hoods up, and walked in and out of the courtroom with their faces covered.</p><p>As the group left after Poszeluznyj&#8217;s arraignment and got in their car to leave, one of the women yelled at reporters to &#8220;get a real job.&#8221; Poszeluznyj declined to comment and kept her face hidden.</p><p>According to police, former Vice President of Player Development Robert Pellegrini, 50, of Fairview Township, Poszeluznyj &#8212; a beverage server &#8212; and gambler Mark Heltzel played $487,100 in slot play. They allegedly cashed out winnings of $418,792 from the fraudulent slot play.</p><p>From May 2, 2014 to April 4, 2015, Pellegrini would allegedly receive players&#8217; cards and pin numbers from Poszeluznyj, who allegedly duplicated the card and added fraudulent free play in excess of the owners&#8217; allotted amounts. The duplicated cards were then allegedly given to Heltzel who allegedly downloaded the excess play and cashed out winnings. The trio then allegedly split the winnings.</p><p>Police said Heltzel would only play the fraudulent excess amount on the cards, leaving the patrons&#8217; usual slot play amount, so as to not alert the card owner.</p><p>The scheme wasn&#8217;t Heltzel&#8217;s first attempt at defrauding the casino.</p><p>In 2011, Heltzel was charged with two misdemeanor counts of theft after a trooper with the state police&#8217;s gaming enforcement office witnessed him &#8220;cap a bet&#8221; during two separate $10 hands of blackjack on June 30, 2011.</p><p>According to a criminal complaint, Heltzel used sleight of hand to add additional chips to his wager after being dealt a winning hand, resulting in a total loss of $20 to the casino and $3.20 to the Commonwealth from the two hands witnessed by the state trooper.</p><p>When the state trooper confronted Heltzel, he stated &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry&#8221; and admitted to capping his bet twice, the complaint says.</p><p>As part of a plea agreement, Heltzel&#8217;s theft charges were reduced to two counts of disorderly conduct, a summary offense. He pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2012 and was ordered to pay a $600 fine, court records show.</p><p>Marsilio on Wednesday called the current theft &#8220;a very elaborate scheme,&#8221; adding that it was one of the more extreme cases he has experienced. He added that the investigation is ongoing, and said that additional arrests could be made.</p><p>Marsilio said that Pellegrini could appear for a preliminary arraignment on Thursday.</p><p>Preliminary hearings for Heltzel and Poszeluznyj have been scheduled for Feb. 1 before Spagnuolo.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mark Heltzel, 51, of Dallas, is led out of court after his preliminary arraignment on Wednesday. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $500,000 bail. Travis Kellar | Times LEader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Heltzel-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mark Heltzel, 51, of Dallas, is led out of court after his preliminary arraignment on Wednesday. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $500,000 bail. Travis Kellar | Times LEader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Rochelle.jpg.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Poszeluznyj</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Rochelle.jpg.jpg</photo1><caption1>Poszeluznyj</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Court records: Mark Heltzel made previous attempt to defraud casino in 2011</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com and Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews and reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Updated: Man accused of scamming over $400k from Mohegan Sun Pocono casino goes to jail for lack of $500k bail