A state court threw out a Pennsylvania man’s lawsuit against a newspaper company, which he claimed “ruined” his jailhouse gambling operations.
In his suit, Alton Brown blamed USA Today’s former publisher and President Larry Kramer for the newspaper’s decision to stop running gambling data, including Las Vegas betting odds, on sporting events, PennLive reported.
Brown, who has a record of assault, robbery and theft convictions, told the court he needed the information “to run his book-making operation in prison,” the news outlet quoted Senior Judge William H. Platt as saying.
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 while Brown was in the state prison at Smithfield, according to PennLive. In it, the 60-year-old accused Kramer of breaching their contract, based on grounds that USA Today stopped printing the gambling odds right after he subscribed to the newspaper.
A Huntington County judge dismissed the suit, but an undeterred Brown filed an appeal before the state court.
Last week, a state Superior Court panel threw out Brown’s “utterly frivolous” lawsuit. Platt noted in the state court opinion that the man has “an 18-year history of filing such baseless complaints from behind bars.”
Gambling by prisoners is forbidden by the state Department of Corrections.
FBI steps in to investigate Greektown casino heist in Detroit
Meanwhile in Michigan, authorities are poring over a case straight out of heist movie.
Authorities said an unarmed man, dressed as a security guard, walked up to an armored vehicle that was parked outside the Greektown casino in Detroit and asked the driver to open the back of the van, CBS Local reported.
According to news outlets, the man grabbed several bags from the van and casually walked away with more than $500,000 in cash.
Investigators said there was no get-away car, no threats were made, and no injuries were reported in the incident.
Federal agents have already stepped in to help Detroit police in the investigation. The driver is under investigation, and investigators are reviewing surveillance video from the casino’s security system.
