Holdup of coin technician’s van yields no cash

Keith Paul

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Two masked robbers put a gun to the head of a driver of a van parked outside of a Las Vegas bar Wednesday night, Metro Police said. It appeared to be another in a series of coin truck robberies, but the robbers apparently didn't take a close look at the van.

The van was not a coin truck that services slot machines, but a slot machine technician's van.

The driver of the van was forced inside his vehicle in the parking lot of the Inn Zone on Rainbow Boulevard about 8 p.m. He was driven to a nearby location, according to a Metro Police report.

When the robbers discovered there was no money in the van, they left the driver unharmed and fled, according to the report. The robbers apparently didn't see the IGT logo on the side of the van or didn't know that International Game Technology isn't a coin truck company.

But the method of the robbery was the same as the more than dozen other holdups of coin trucks in the area in the past few months.

Metro Police have said the robberies are not the work of the same two or three gunmen but appear to be various groups of robbers pulling off the heists in the same manner.

The most recent coin truck robbery occurred Monday night outside of the Triple Play bar on Decatur Boulevard. The methods were exactly the same as Wednesday's nights holdup of the technician's van.

In that holdup, two gunmen forced the driver into the van, drove to another location, robbed the driver and fled, leaving the driver unharmed. In that case they robbed a coin truck and got away with some money.

Metro's robbery unit has been investigating all of these holdups and has made some arrests in past cases.

About six weeks ago five people were arrested in connection with the coin truck robberies. Three of the men are suspected in five other robberies and one attempted robbery.