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Roberto Orellana, who is accused of committing $350,000 to a casino worker, pleaded not guilty in court. If convicted, the man faces up to 15 years in prison.

The 44-year-old employee was accused of scamming a cashier at the Grand River Casino, a tribal gambling property in Morbridge, South Dakota. According to the charges, the employee received scam text messages on his phone from people who appeared to be their bosses.

The text claimed that a company was conducting an audit of the Grand River Casino. According to the scam text, the accused lawyer needed the money to help the casino avoid the extra fine. The text told an employee to transfer cash from a machine in Aberdeen to Bitcoin. The second text included detailed instructions telling him to bring the money to the Dakota Sunset gas station in Mitchell.

When I got there, the staff handed over the money to the two men who were waiting in the parking lot of the gas station.

The man pleaded not guilty to the charges
Authorities have not confirmed how the casino realized the fraud, but authorities eventually reached out and opened an investigation into the matter. After an expert with the South Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigated the matter, the department was able to access gas station surveillance and identify credit cards used by one of the two suspects.

Police understood that the person who owned the credit card was Orellana from Omaha, Nebraska. They also found out that he was the owner of a car that the two suspects used.

Orellana pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charges, according to a report by the Mitchell Daily Republic. The case is likely to go to trial, as the man faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

Federal authorities have requested bond holdings for Orellana, but Judge Chris Giles has denied changing the terms.

The report did not mention the man who was with Orellana when the casino employee brought the money. Authorities have not yet said what happened to the money.