Two Accused Of Running Illegal Online Gambling Operations In Gillette…

CASPER — A 32-year-old Gillette woman was in Casper Circuit Court on Thursday to face a criminal charge as part of an alleged gambling operation run out of coffee shops in Casper and Gillette, along with a vape store in Mills, Wyoming.

Hannelore Sue Tolliver is charged with conspiracy to commit professional gambling stemming from operations from Jan. 1, 2020, through to January 2024 in Natrona County.

Her arrest comes after her former boss, Scott Schroefel, 54, was also arrested earlier this month and appeared in court Oct. 15, according to court records.

Schroefel faces a professional gambling charge. The charges for both he and Tolliver are felonies.

Court records show that in June 2023, a woman complained to the Wyoming Gaming Commission about activity at the Mocha Moose at 855 CY Ave. in Casper. She said her son had won about $7,000 playing the online Las Vegas Sweeps game and the store refused to pay.

The woman told the commission that the operation involved customers pulling up to the Mocha Moose drive-up window and asking for a code that would be used to play online after the customer gave money to the coffee shop’s attendant.

“Only people known to the employee or recommended/referred by another regular customer could buy/receive the codes,” the court affidavit states.

Double Diamond Vapors at 4721 W. Yellowstone in Mills also conducted the same activity, according to the affidavit.

Investigation

Special agents with the Wyoming Gaming Commission began an investigation, during which a confidential informant told an agent the gambling operations at the stores were owned by Schroefel, a Casper resident.

Customers who came to the Mocha Moose either established a new account or placed money into an existing account.

The affidavit states that the customers could choose from several games available on a website. If customers won, they would return to the Mocha Moose for payment.

“Mocha Moose employees were told by Schroefel that the gambling activity at the business was illegal,” the affidavit states. “The only reason law enforcement did not take action was because Schroefel conducted raffles for charity.”

A special agent check with the city of Casper in June 2023 showed there was no active business license for the Mocha Moose. In February, a special agent was told by a property manager that the business was originally leased in 2005 under the name Rocky Mountain Empire Developers.

Agents from the Wyoming Gaming Commission and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation executed a search warrant at the Mocha Moose on Jan. 14, while Schroefel and a confidential source were in the store. Agents seized:

• Paper detailing each store location in Casper and Gillette with dollar amounts and months.

• Cash bags containing U.S. currency worth $5,008 that included marked currency from an undercover buy conducted by Wyoming Gaming Commission agents.

• Schroefel’s cellphone.

• $1,724 in cash that Schroefel had on him.

• Handwritten papers and notes with password and login information for several illegal online gambling platforms such Fire Kirin, River Sweeps, Blue Dragon, River Dragon, Red Dragon, Vegas Strip and Juwa.

Weekly Texts

When agents seized the phone, they found text messages between Schroefel and Tolliver who was employed as the manager for Schroefel at Huff N Puff, later renamed Hole in the Wall Coffee and Bingo Hall located in Gillette.

An arrest affidavit states that between 2019 and 2023 Tolliver texted Schroefel twice weekly about business operations.

One conversation contained in the affidavit involved a visit from Wyoming Gaming Commission agents March 18, 2023, to the Gillette location after Schroefel applied for a bingo license.

Schroefel asked Tolliver why she added new accounts, and she replied she didn’t, only old customers.

“We have been super careful only using the term raffle tickets and so forth,” Tolliver texted Schroefel.

Schroefel texted her that it was the Horse Palace “who narc.”

“Yea we, are trying as hard as we can to be super discreet, it’s so hard because we are a small town and everyone talks around here,” Tolliver replied.

On Dec. 21, 2023, a special agent completed an undercover buy of an online gambling account from Tolliver, according to the affidavit. They then gambled on the online account in Natrona County.

In January 2024, special agents received a search warrant for a Facebook content search and further confirmed Tolliver conducted alleged illegal gambling operations for Schroefel. The affidavit states that between June 2023 and January 2023, Tolliver created or loaded money on 19 illegal gambling accounts.

In two interviews with Tolliver, she told agents that Schroefel was the owner of the illegal gambling platforms and she was an employee who sold online gambling credits.

She Delivered

She said in 2020 when Schroefel had an account at American National Bank in Gillette shut down, she drove every Monday for two years to Casper to deliver between $8,000 and $10,000.

“Schroefel paid Hannelore Tolliver $200 per trip to deliver cash to Schroefel,” the affidavit states. “Hannelore Tolliver picked up cigarettes for the Gillette store if needed. Coffee and cigarette sales were approximately $100 per week.”

Court records involving the charge against Schroefel show that he “interacted” with an undercover agent who bought credits for an illegal gambling platform from Schroefel on Sept. 6, 2023. Agents placed $110 onto the Vega Strip account.

“This money was used to gamble and subsequently lost on the account,” the affidavit states. “The Vega Strip application was identified as an on-line unregulated casino-style game that offered several card and slot-machine style games.”

The affidavit also shows that agents obtained a search warrant for banking accounts held at American National Bank and found a document from the bank that contained the reason why his account was terminated.

The bank wrote that Schroefel has an “unreliable source of repayment due to income derived from business practices which are illegal under federal law,” the affidavit states.

Court records show Schroefel faces a preliminary hearing on his charge Oct. 31. His bond was set at $2,500.

Tolliver told Judge Brian Christensen that she is going to school studying early childhood education. She was given a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.

Both the conspiracy to commit professional gambling charge against Tolliver and the professional gambling charge against Schroefel carry a potential for three years in prison and a fine of $3,000.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.