Sixth defendant in Stark County skills game court cases sentenced to prison

One of the final defendants convicted of crimes related to the operation of illegal gambling operations in Stark County learned his punishment Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

Judge Donald Nugent sentenced Jason Kachner to two years in prison. Kachner, who pleaded guilty in July 2022 to two counts of tax fraud against the Internal Revenue Service, according to court records. He had faced a maximum sentence of five years.

Kachner, who has had multiple addresses in the Canton and Louisville area, must serve three years of supervised release after he’s released from prison. He must pay a special assessment of $200 and restitution of $1.39 million to the IRS.

Jason Kachner will report to prison

A message seeking comment was left Thursday for one of Kachner’s attorneys.

Kachner’s sentencing date was postponed several times.

The judge has recommended the U.S. Bureau of Prisons incarcerate Kachner at the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, West Virginia. Kachner must report to the designated prison by a set date.

Federal superseding indictments in 2021 and 2022 accused Kachner of operating the Skilled Shamrock and Redemption Skill Games 777 “skill game” parlors. Prosecutors contend illegal gambling for cash prizes was taking place at these locations. Redemption was at 2824-2826 Whipple Avenue NW in Plain Township. Skilled Shamrock was at 4225 Hills and Dales Road NW in Plain Township.

In the end, Kachner pleaded guilty to failing to report income earned from Skilled Shamrock and Redemption, concealing that income by destroying records and failing to pay federal taxes owed on that income.

The judge followed the recommendation of prosecutors to dismiss other charges of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating an illegal gambling business and filing false income tax returns.

Years-long process

Law enforcement officers executed search warrants at Skilled Shamrock, Redemption and other “skill-games” parlors in July 2018 and they closed.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said, “From 2012 through 2017, patrons at Skilled Shamrock wagered a total of more than $34 million, which resulted in more than $4 million in income for the owners of the gambling business. Kachner conspired with his co-owners to defraud the IRS by using a nominee owner to conceal their ownership of the businesses and by filing false tax returns that omitted most of the income he received from the businesses.

“Overall, Kachner caused a loss to the IRS of $844,692.”

In February 2023, Nugent sentenced Kachner’s wife Rebecca Kachner, 46, to 24 months in prison. Prosecutors accused her of assisting her husband in his illegal activities operating the parlors and accused both of failing to pay income taxes on $2.3 million earned from the “skill games” operations. Federal agents in 2018 seized $241,266 in cash she had stashed in a Louisville YMCA locker. She pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud against the IRS and was ordered to pay $1.18 million in restitution.

Others charged in relation to Redemption and Skill Shamrock were sentenced months ago to lengthier sentences for crimes committed from 2009 to 2018.

Stark gambling parlor verdicts

A jury in January convicted Christos Karasarides, an owner of Redemption, Skilled Shamrock and the Plaza 777 skill-games parlors, of tax evasion, gambling, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The jury in that trial also convicted Ronald DiPietro, who played a role in operating the skill-games parlors, of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating an illegal business, tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

Karasarides, 59, was sentenced in June to nearly 22 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of more than $5.4 million and he forfeited to the federal government homes, property and a vehicle worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is now serving his time in a low-security federal prison in Atlanta.

DiPietro, 65, who lived in Green, was sentenced to more than nine years in prison, and he was ordered to pay $4.76 million in restitution. He’s now serving his sentence at a federal medical center in Lexington, Kentucky.

Karasarides’ nephew, Thomas Helmick, the paper owner of the one of the illegal gambling businesses, pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States. He was sentenced to probation for three years and ordered to pay more than $1.2 million to the IRS.

Karasarides’ son, Christopher Karasarides, 33, another paper owner, pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States. He was sentenced in April to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $1.5 million.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.