Surveillance video images of an armed man who police believe robbed the Bellagio and Suncoast casinos. The Suncoast robbery is at the left and right, and Bellagio is in the center.
Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 | 2:57 a.m.
Metro Police have made an arrest in a brazen stickup at the Bellagio in which a man armed with a handgun and wearing a motorcycle helmet stole some $1.5 million in casino chips from a craps table.
Anthony Carleo, 29, of Las Vegas was arrested on counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, burglary with use of a deadly weapon and trafficking in a controlled substance, Metro announced early this morning.
The arrest followed an extensive investigation into the headline-grabbing Dec. 14 robbery at one of the Strip’s most famous casinos, police said. The drug trafficking count stemed from the discovery of a large quantity of narcotics during the investigation into the robbery, police said.
No other arrests have been made, but the investigation is ongoing, police said. Carleo still had not been booked as of about 2:30 a.m., police said.
The robbery occurred about 3:50 a.m. after a man parked a motorcycle outside the casino’s north valet, walked to a craps table, pulled a gun and demanded chips, police said.
He was last seen fleeing west on Flamingo Road. Police said the robbery took no more than about three minutes, and the man made off with chips in denominations as high as $25,000.
After the robbery, Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International announced it was discontinuing its $25,000 chips, giving gamblers until April 22 to redeem them before they become worthless.
At the time, investigators said they believed the Bellagio bandit was the same man who robbed the Suncoast, 9090 Alta Drive, on Dec. 9. In that holdup, the man robbed a cashier’s cage near where a poker tournament was going on and got away with just less than $20,000, police said.
The Bellagio robbery was the 10th casino robbery last year in Metro’s jurisdiction. In 2009, there were nine casino robberies, police said.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|