Son of famed golfer Casper indicted on robbery charges

Bill Gang

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

The son of two-time U.S. Open golf champion Billy Casper has been indicted by a Clark County grand jury on charges he robbed a downtown bar and possessed a short-barrel shotgun and numerous drugs.

David James Casper, 26, who also is wanted in a string of up to 30 San Diego robberies, is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Dec. 15 in District Judge Mark Gibbons' courtroom.

Until then, he will be held in the Clark County Detention Center on $250,000 bail that was set Wednesday by District Judge Gene Porter.

Casper was captured Nov. 11 in the 3300 block of West Tropicana Avenue by Metro Police officers who were pursuing the robbers of the Bunkhouse Bar on South 11th Street near Fremont Street.

The targeting of Casper came after San Diego police called Metro to say he may be in Las Vegas and was wanted in California on parole violation and robbery charges. Casper also was a suspect in the carjacking of a 1996 Audi and the theft of a 1996 Volvo.

Metro located the two stolen cars outside the Wild Wild West hotel-casino on West Tropicana Avenue and waited.

Casper was arrested by shotgun-wielding officers, and two others -- Francisco Beruman, 36, and Lisa Llames, 26, both of Chula Vista, Calif. -- were arrested as they walked down the stairs from a second-story room.

At the time of his arrest, police indicated Casper reached for a concealed handgun and may have been intending to use it. A sawed-off shotgun, another handgun and drugs were found in his room, said Lt. Jim Moses of Metro Police's Career Criminals unit.

Police subsequently identified Casper as a suspect in the Bunkhouse Bar holdup.

Although Beruman and Llames were arrested on charges of possessing stolen property, they were not part of Wednesday's indictment.

Billy Casper, who helped design a golf course in Sun City, was in Las Vegas for May's Las Vegas Senior Classic golf tournament.