LAS VEGAS (AP) — A tribulation for a Las Vegas police officer accused of stealing just about $165,000 in a sequence of on line casino heists is about to start Monday with prosecutors portray him as a playing addict who grew an increasing number of determined underneath a overwhelm of debt.
Prosecutors declare Caleb Rogers, 35, performed 3 robberies over a span of 4 months whilst armed with a weapon issued via the police branch.
Rogers’ lawyer, Richard Pocker, stated the federal government’s proof allegedly tying Rogers to 2 of the robberies is vulnerable. He accused the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division detectives of pressuring two other folks, together with Rogers’ brother, into figuring out him because the suspect within the robberies to near out the instances.
Rogers made off with greater than $85,000 within the first two robberies between November 2021 and January 2022 at casinos off the Las Vegas Strip whilst his police colleagues spent months seeking to catch the thief, investigators and prosecutors stated.
Rogers just about bagged an extra $79,000 in a 3rd theft on the Rio All-Suite Lodge & On line casino in February 2022, however safety guards detained him outdoor following a short lived fight, government stated.
The robber’s method was once necessarily the similar in all 3 crimes, government stated. He wore a face masks, darkish clothes and black latex gloves. After cashiers passed over the cash, he positioned the money inside of a bag beneath his jacket. Then the suspect with the “distinctive gait” ran again to his car, limping “as a result of an issue along with his leg,” consistent with a felony criticism.
Mehmet Erdem, a professor on the College of Nevada, Las Vegas, whose experience contains resort and on line casino operations, stated on line casino heists are laborious to effectively pull off.
“The possibilities you get stuck and are known may be very excessive,” he stated, as a result of a mixture of sturdy on line casino safety groups with uniformed guards and plainclothes officials and developments in safety era together with facial popularity tool and high-definition cameras.
Rogers was once a seven-year police veteran hired via the Las Vegas metro police as an active-duty patrol officer on the time of the robberies. He stays hired however is on unpaid depart “with out police powers” pending the result of the felony case, a branch spokesperson stated.
The ones attesting will come with on line casino cashiers, safety guards and Josiah Rogers, who known his brother on video captured via on line casino safety cameras throughout the primary two robberies, prosecutors stated final week, noting that Josiah Rogers will probably be granted immunity from felony motion.
Caleb Rogers, who was once denied bail and has been in custody on 4 fees since his arrest, used his brother’s automotive in some of the robberies and suggested him to do away with it in a while thereafter, consistent with court docket paperwork.
Within the 3rd alleged theft, Rogers parked an unregistered minivan outdoor the on line casino and entered simply ahead of 7 a.m., whilst workers on the on line casino’s sportsbook ready to open. He wore frame armor beneath his clothes and was once armed with a department-issued revolver with a yellow decal protecting its serial quantity, consistent with a felony criticism.
He climbed over-the-counter, shoved one in every of two cashiers who was once loading money into registers from a plastic bag containing $119,000 and yelled that he had a gun. As he shoveled cash right into a bag hidden inside of his jacket, free expenses floated onto the on line casino flooring, consistent with the criticism.
A bunch of safety guards stuck as much as the suspect simply after he made it previous the on line casino’s go out. He drew his weapon and requested the guards in the event that they have been “prepared to be shot over this” ahead of one in every of them grabbed the gun, the criticism stated.
When cops arrived, Rogers allegedly introduced his branch staff quantity, which government stated is “some way cops repeatedly determine themselves to each other.”
A detective later requested Rogers if the rest can have been performed to stop the robberies, the criticism stated.
“Not anything,” Rogers stated.
