![]() ![]() Police lapel video played during the trial showed Caleb Rogers identifying himself as a police officer as he was folded into the back of a patrol car outside the casino.Ĭasino heists are hard to pull off, said Mehmet Erdem, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, whose expertise includes hotel and casino operations. Within minutes, prosecutors said, the robber was tackled by a group of security guards outside the casino, sending a wig he’d been wearing flying off his head. Prosecutors said Caleb Rogers stormed that casino’s sportsbook, shoved a cashier in her 60s out of his way, and threatened to use a gun while he shoveled $79,000 into a drawstring bag hidden inside his jacket. attorney David Kiebler said in his closing argument Thursday that the evidence in all three robberies pointed to the same man: Caleb Rogers.īut Pocker, the officer’s lawyer, called the bulk of the government’s evidence circumstantial and convenient for a police department that already had been trying for months - to no avail - to solve the other robberies when Rogers was arrested.īefore he took the stand, the government’s evidence had been mostly focused on the third robbery in February 2022, when Caleb Rogers was arrested outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. And a 63-year-old cashier said she still looks over her shoulder when she handles cash at work.Īssistant U.S. He said he couldn’t stop thinking about how he might not have made it home to his family that day. A security guard wrestled with the suspect for his loaded weapon during one of the heists. Jurors also heard from casino employees who said they are still haunted by their encounters with the robber. They said he had a unique set of skills and knowledge about robberies as a law enforcement officer and used that to his advantage. Throughout the weeklong trial, prosecutors had portrayed Rogers as a gambling addict who had grown increasingly desperate under a crush of debt when the robberies targeting casinos off the Las Vegas Strip began. Caleb Rogers carried out the other two heists alone, prosecutors said. Josiah Rogers said he participated only in that robbery. The case went to the jury Thursday shortly after Rogers’ younger brother testified against him for more than three hours, painting a clear picture for the jurors of how the two successfully pulled off the first heist in the series. The department said it had no comment on Rogers’ conviction. A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said after the verdict that Rogers’ future at the department “will be determined at the conclusion” of an internal investigation. Rogers, who was employed as an active-duty patrol officer at the time of the heists, has been on unpaid leave without police powers since his arrest. Richard Pocker told AP they planned to appeal the conviction. Seated next to his attorney, Rogers showed no emotion as the verdict was read in the courtroom. “It took all of the evidence and all of the testimony from everybody to come to this conclusion.” ![]() “Everything kind of added up,” Dickerson said outside the courthouse. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |