“They tried too hard here,” Pocker said in his closing argument.

Internally at the police department, they had nicknamed the case the “Kangaroo Bandit” investigation for the suspect’s gait.īut Richard Pocker, the officer’s lawyer, called the government’s evidence convenient for a police department that already had been working for months to no avail to solve the first two robberies when Rogers was arrested. The way he ran with a limp in his left leg also gave him away, Walter said. attorney David Kiebler said in his closing argument Thursday that the evidence in all three robberies points to the same man: Caleb Rogers.īrian Walter, the lead detective on the case, said in each heist, the thief used the same “unique” method - down to the type of clothing he wore to conceal his identity, to the way he would keep his hands in his jacket pockets until he had the cash to “avoid spreading forensic evidence.” Then, Walter said, the robber would unzip his jacket and place the money inside a drawstring bag hidden underneath his clothing. And then there was the 63-year-old cashier who said she still looks over her shoulder anytime she handles cash at work.Īssistant U.S. There was the security guard who said he couldn’t stop thinking about how he might not make it home to his family while he was wrestling with the suspect for his weapon outside the Rio hotel-casino.

Throughout trial, which began Monday, jurors also heard from casino employees who shared how they are still haunted by their encounters with the robber. Josiah Rogers said he took his cut of $30,000 and moved back to their hometown of Columbus, Ohio, a week after the robbery.įor Caleb Rogers, prosecutors said, it was just the first in a string of heists targeting casinos off the Strip that would end only after he was arrested in February 2022 during an armed robbery at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. When the day of the robbery arrived, Josiah Rogers said he parked outside the casino near a loading dock like they had rehearsed, and his brother crawled out of the passenger-side window, returning minutes later with a trash bag stuffed with cash.Īt home, the brothers splayed their earnings across the dining room table, counting more than $73,000, according to prosecutors.

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