Havre taverns scammed

A few bar patrons decided to start the new year with a gamble that may have paid off initially, but might end up making the rest of 2012 very difficult for them.

According to Tammy Schmidt, owner of the Golden Spike, a group of people worked together to cheat several bars across town out of $400 each, stealing more than $6,000 in the process.

Schmidt said the scam started with one person putting $200 on a machine then going outside to pretend to smoke or talk on a cellphone. Then they cashed out, made copies of their cash slip and had different people cash out the slips at different times throughout New Year's Eve, when they knew the bar staff would be swamped with all of the evening's customers and wouldn't know the difference.

At the Spike the scam was uncovered a few hours later, when Schmidt found something that was strange after 3 a. m.

She immediately started calling other bars in town and while many people were already gone for the night, the calls continued all day Sunday.

Through talking to the other bar owners, Schmidt said she is "100 percent sure" that the same scheme was pulled through the night at The Palace Bar, The Tip It, The Shanty Bar, The Oxford Bar, PJ's Restaurant and Casino, and Murphy's Irish Pub. She said she suspects others were also hit, but isn't sure yet.

Schmidt called the Havre Police Department, she said she already knew who the perpetrators were, from security camera footage in her bar, but didn't want to say anything until the police finished their investigation. She said there are at least three suspects.

This morning, Interim Police Chief Gabe Matosich said he had not seen the incident in his review of the weekend's police activity yet.

While talking about the unnamed suspects, Schmidt said she wanted "him to go back to prison and for the gal to go to prison and to pay restitution as soon as possible. "

To add to frustrations, Schmidt said, the losses being dealt with are significant enough to be felt, but are not big enough to "turn in a $600 claim for your insurance and have your insurance go up. "

"I'm not going to shut up about it because I am livid, " Schmidt said.

"I'm not going to rest until the police knock on their door. "