Theft in the Casino

[Lucky Larry]

We've all heard the stories. So i'll add mine. Saturday at the casino. I always take a casino jacket with a casino name and my name embroidered on it. The jacket is my seat holder when I make pit stops. Since Christmas I've often also used it to hold my headphones in a zipped inside pocket so I can listen if i need due to casino noise. When I take a pit stop, I ask a player or two next to me (usually regulars) to watch my chair (turned around) and my jacket. I pull my ticket and head out for a few minutes.

Saturday, no one is playing by me for several hours. I get up for my second or third break and leave my jacket forgetting about my headphones which I've not used yet. I come back within 2-3 minutes and my jacket is missing. I immediately check with the other nearby players who have not seen anything. I head for security and notify them. An incident investigator (CJ) comes out and I give him all the relevant information. We return to my machine. He calls for video surveillance as we walk back. Within 5-6 minutes, he stops our conversation and states I need to stay at the machine. He moves to the end of the next set of machines and begins talking to a young man, his mother and dad. I can see the interaction from the nearby bar mirrors. Then CJ and the young man head into the "Kids Zone" area which is also the closest restroom area where I go. I decide to follow discreetly and talk to the security guard at the entrance. CJ and the young man return with my jacket sans headphones. The young man admits he took my jacket but didn't take the headphones. He states perhaps since he left the jacket in the RR one of the teenagers stole them. He is willing to undergo a strip search- lifts his shirt, pats his pants etc. His dad now appears and joins our little group-CJ, the thief, his dad, the security guard and me. (Side note: I'm a retired school principal. This is old first hand experience coming back.)

My response is that regardless of who took the headphones he is on tape taking my jacket therefore guilty of theft in excess of $200 and i'm considering filing charges of theft. He continues to just admit grabbing the jacket. Search me, I'm sorry I've turned in lots of items before I don't know why I took it....etc. Same verse as I've heard for years from students. Long story short, I indicate to CJ, who has the kid's DL (from Alabama, two states away) that I'm thinking about filing charges. I then add, "you know my headphones have my name engraved and like my iPhone i have tracker software embedded so i can locate my phone, my laptop, or my headphones." I walk away from the group back to my machine telling CJ I need to talk to him. CJ comes over and says surveillance will continue to look for the headphones via tapes. About 3 minutes later dad comes up and hands me my headphones. He admits the kid stole them, apologizes for his kid. (Surveillance appears to show they came out of mom's purse.) Shortly after the kid comes over and apologizes. My gut says this isn't the first time this happened.

[FloridaPhil]

Larry, as someone who has worked with kids for a long time you know more than anyone this stuff is common.  I think it's weird that a parent would let an unsupervised minor roam free in a casino, but that's their business.  Kids make wrong decisions, they're kids.  Hopefully, he learned a lesson from getting caught and will decide a life of crime isn't a good plan.  If not, you may see him again on the evening news or on a documentary about prison overcrowding.

[FAA]

Wow. That is some yarn. File under all's well ends well. What a messed up family. Out of mom's purse indeed.

[case]

I also had my jacket stolen at Gold Coast in Las Vegas. I always put my wallet in my front pants pocket so there was no extra value in my jacket. Still pissed me off that someone would steal my coat. I checked with security but it never showed up.

[FAA]

Still pissed me off that someone would steal my coat.----------------------------------------------------------------------You and me both. My coat was stolen eons ago in a high end department store. It's a cruel world. The kid in LL's story hardly needed the damn jacket or headphones. Yet he was abetted by good old Mom!

[DaBurglar]

?????

First off, I'm sorry you had to go through that Larry, what a waste of your time not to mention the evening's enjoyment. Your account indicates you acted with reasonable restraint and without excessive vindictiveness...Also, I never knew you were a school principal....Well done on a worthwhile career.

Second, there are a lot of weird details here....First off, how old was this "kid", considering he had a license? Assuming he was old enough to drive but still under 21, did he "look" young or older than 21?   That is the fault of the casino either way, and Larry could have exerted pressure on them because of that....If the casino is allowing underage people/kids to wander the gaming area that's a big violation and opens the casino to all types of possible liability.

Third, given the interaction between the family, they clearly were working in concert in some fashion...Did the security know for certain that these people indeed were a "family" and not just a team? I hope they at least entered their mugs and info in the databases shared by casinos across North America about confirmed or suspected bad actors in casinos.

I also don't like, or even understand why so many casinos insist on putting Arcades so close to gambling machines and tables....Just asking for trouble!

Of course another school of thought previously voiced on this forum by others is that players are solely responsible for their possessions and valuables at all times in the casino, so if someone leaves something unattended and it gets stolen, too bad....Even if you ask casino staff to watch your stuff or seat or even credits while you go to the restroom, because casinos are private property I guess we are all on our own in the end.... I don't like or agree with that but....



Fyi, Tom Brady had his game jersey stolen right out of his locker 15 minutes after the super bowl ended so we are living in a nation of thieves...

[asteroid]

I guess that explains why the Atlantis and Peppermill here in Reno both have their arcades (which I enjoy greatly) upstairs  . . .?????

First off, I'm sorry you had to go through that Larry, what a waste of your time not to mention the evening's enjoyment. Your account indicates you acted with reasonable restraint and without excessive vindictiveness...Also, I never knew you were a school principal....Well done on a worthwhile career.

Second, there are a lot of weird details here....First off, how old was this "kid", considering he had a license? Assuming he was old enough to drive but still under 21, did he "look" young or older than 21?   That is the fault of the casino either way, and Larry could have exerted pressure on them because of that....If the casino is allowing underage people/kids to wander the gaming area that's a big violation and opens the casino to all types of possible liability.

Third, given the interaction between the family, they clearly were working in concert in some fashion...Did the security know for certain that these people indeed were a "family" and not just a team? I hope they at least entered their mugs and info in the databases shared by casinos across North America about confirmed or suspected bad actors in casinos.

I also don't like, or even understand why so many casinos insist on putting Arcades so close to gambling machines and tables....Just asking for trouble!

Of course another school of thought previously voiced on this forum by others is that players are solely responsible for their possessions and valuables at all times in the casino, so if someone leaves something unattended and it gets stolen, too bad....Even if you ask casino staff to watch your stuff or seat or even credits while you go to the restroom, because casinos are private property I guess we are all on our own in the end.... I don't like or agree with that but....



Fyi, Tom Brady had his game jersey stolen right out of his locker 15 minutes after the super bowl ended so we are living in a nation of thieves...

[Eduardo]

Stupid kid hasn't watched enough movies. Obviously you have to set off an elecromagnetic pulse and knock out the power for the entire city block before messing with a man's jacket in a casino.

[Come Back Kid]

And even then they have back-up generators...LOL
People can't get away with too much at a casino, security is amazing!!! Still sad though...

[billryan]

Why leave anything of value behind?
Many casino crimes are those of opportunity. Don't make it easier on a wannabe thief.