The ex-girlfriend of World Series of Poker 2010 main event champion Jonathan Duhamel has lost her bid to shorten her prison sentence. In June, Bianca Rojas Latraverse was sentenced to 42 months in jail for her role in the December 2011 home invasion/assault/robbery that left Duhamel bruised, battered and missing around $150k in cash and valuables, including the $10k Rolex watch Duhamel’s sponsor PokerStars had presented him following his WSOP triumph.
On Friday, Quebec’s Court of Appeal announced that it had rejected the 22-year-old Rojas Latraverse’s appeal to cut her sentence short, ruling that while it “may seem harsh” it wasn’t “demonstrably unfit.” The heartless harpie had already served 18 months in custody prior to her June sentencing, leaving her looking at a June 2015 release date, although she will probably be released earlier provided she doesn’t stick a shiv into her cellmate or something. When she does finally rejoin the civilized world, Rojas Latraverse will be subject to three years probation.
The two accomplices who conducted the actual robbery/beating originally opted to fight their own charges but last month saw Anthony Bourque change his plea to guilty. Bourque is scheduled to learn his fate in January while the other attacker, John Stephen Clark Lemay, continues to deny reality and is scheduled for a February court appearance. Getaway driver Andres Valderrama also copped a plea and is awaiting his own sentence.
RILEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT
This week saw a bizarre poker-related crime transpire south of the 49th parallel for a change. The New York Post reported that Florida poker player Eric Riley had spent a couple weeks playing cards at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, and was toting $100k in cash when he made his way to New York’s Kennedy Airport in a car driven by ‘Junior,’ an acquaintance Riley met during his stay in AC. But when Riley went to remove his loot-laden luggage from the trunk of Junior’s car, Junior took off with the trunk still open, leaving Riley on the street outside the terminal with a stunned look on his face and no money in his hand.
According to the Post, Riley immediately hailed a cab, tossed $400 at the startled driver and ordered him to ‘follow that car.’ The intrepid cabbie earned his tip by catching up to Junior at a red light, allowing Riley to leap out and retrieve his loot from the still open trunk. Junior then drove off with nothing more than some of Riley’s clothes and his laptop, which should have been the end of this story, but hang on to your popcorn.
A black Toyota Camry then pulled up, and its two occupants identified themselves as undercover cops and instructed Riley to jump in. Riley told them of his adventures in retrieving his winnings, at which point the ‘cops’ pulled a gun and demanded Riley hand over the loot. Riley claims he then leapt from the moving car still clutching his sack o’ cash, rolled to a stop, hailed another cab and went to the police to report on his wacky Wednesday. The police then shot Riley dead and took his money. (That last sentence didn’t actually happen, but really, at this point, would you be surprised?)
The police are reportedly proceeding on the theory that the three villains in Riley’s story were in cahoots from the start. Meanwhile, one can only assume Riley immediately hopped a flight to Los Angeles in order to pitch production companies on his idea for the next great poker movie, once he figures out how to work some crocodiles into the picture.
