SYRACUSE – Otoe County prosecutors has named suspects in an electronic gaming theft scheme.

Sheriff's office investigators say thieves used home-made payout tickets to steal up to $10,000 from Cubby’s Convenience Store at Syracuse.

The store manager became suspicious on Jan. 3 when a man, who was accompanied by four others, presented four cash out tickets totaling $1,890.

Deputies contacted the machine owners, Trestle Gaming and Amusement Solutions, and learned the company did not receive the typical notifications for payouts.
The sheriff’s office suspects that fake payout stubs were used. Although they look identical to real stubs, they were printed on different paper.

Deputies say a return visit to the store by suspects helped them track a vehicle to 38-year-old Tory Stone of Lincoln. An arrest warrant identifies 44-year-old Elroy Helmstadter of Lincoln as the man who cashed in a fake stub.

The arrest affidavit says the gaming company reports that payout stubs were not lining up with cash in the machines and say about $10,000 is unaccounted for since February.