A visit to the Table Mountain Casino in Fresno County, California prompted fairly a little bit of inconvenience for some gamblers lately, and it got here with a wild backstory.
Local police reported final week that quite a few guests had their tires flattened over the previous few months by a person they allege had been “feuding” with the on line casino. Officers from the sheriff’s division arrested Matthew Ebner, of Dos Palos, for the crimes.
“During a three-month long investigation, detectives discovered at least 35 vehicle owners experienced flat tires while driving through the parking lots of Table Mountain Casino and on nearby Millerton Road,” the division famous in a information launch. “The victims all discovered they had driven over caltrops (homemade metal spikes), which got stuck in their tires. The damages totaled thousands of dollars.”
Casino Sabotage
The weird string of crimes got here after police say Ebner sought some kind of revenge for a grievance towards the on line casino. Detectives labored with Table Mountain police and recognized a pickup truck suspected of being concerned within the crimes.
Ebner was discovered to be the proprietor and officers served a search warrant at his dwelling in Dos Palos final week. That yielded some proof within the case, in accordance with the division, together with caltrops related to the reported vandalism.
After being arrested, Ebner now faces quite a few expenses of vandalism and his bail has been set at $25,000. His actual grudge towards the on line casino isn’t but identified, however Ebner allegedly picked fairly a novel strategy to sabotage the property.
The use of caltrops dates again centuries. The small metallic gadgets have 4 sharp prongs that may simply do some harm to tires. They are constructed in order that regardless of which route a caltrop falls, one sharp prong goals upward.
These small booby traps have been used for hundreds of years to discourage advancing armies and chariots, to pierce auto and airplane tires, and extra. Caltrops have been used extensively in World War I and II, the place they may very well be unfold simply over a wider space. It’s a superb wager they’ve hardly ever been used at a on line casino, nonetheless.