The Northampton District Attorney has threatened to stop investigating crimes at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, if the casino does not pay millions of dollars it promised to the local community. NBC10’s George Spencer took a closer look at this Lehigh Valley casino controversy.
A county prosecutor says he may not prosecute cases involving bad checks or chip thefts at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem if the casino doesn't continue paying a $10 million local government assessment.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli released the letter he wrote Tuesday to casino officials. He wrote that he can't justify the use of his office's resources to help a profitable corporation that isn't a good corporate citizen.
Casino officials declined comment. They haven't pledged to continue paying the money. Instead, they've said they'll wait for state lawmakers to respond to a September decision by Pennsylvania's highest court to strike down a provision that's required casinos to pay assessments to their host communities for the past decade.
Most other Pennsylvania casinos have pledged to continue paying the money.
