Coin truck robberies start anew

Keith Paul

Monday, May 1, 2000 | 11:50 a.m.

After three men were arrested in January, a rash of coin truck heists that plagued the Las Vegas Valley for three months stopped -- temporarily. Apparently some other robbers have recently decided to borrow the method.

Copying the techniques used in more than a dozen coin truck thefts last year and early this year, robbers have held up drivers in front of two Las Vegas bars, Lt. John Alamshaw of Metro Police's robbery unit said.

A United Coin truck driver in front of a bar in the 7200 block of West Lake Mead Boulevard was approached April 19 by two men and forced back into his truck. The driver was taken in the truck to a nearby location and robbed. The robbers fled in a car driven by a third accomplice, police said.

On March 11 a coin truck driver was robbed in the same way outside a bar in the 3400 block of North Nellis Boulevard, Alamshaw said. Neither coin truck driver was injured in the two robberies.

Both crimes are reminiscent of the string of coin truck robberies that took place from late November to late January. But after Jan. 26 the robberies suddenly stopped.

The freeze on the coin truck robbery started right after three men -- Stephan Blaylock, Michael Glenn and Tony Taylor -- were arrested on Jan. 26. Police accuse the trio, who are awaiting trial at the Clark County Detention Center, of pistol whipping a coin truck driver on Jan. 26 during a robbery attempt as undercover detectives moved in on them.

"I think there was a chilling effect after those arrests, because they knew that Metro officers were watching them," Alamshaw said.

Police have said they don't believe that one group was responsible for all of the coin truck robberies, but detectives suspect the three charged men were behind many of the holdups.

"I believe that we got the main players, but these (current group or groups of robbers) may have been associated with the others," Alamshaw said. "We said at the time of the (Jan. 26) arrests there were others we were looking for, and believe they have committed some of the robberies."

Police think the two recent robberies were pulled off by either a crew connected to those in custody or by a group copying their methods.

Either way police say they are working to make sure that Las Vegas doesn't have a repeat of the string of coin truck robberies that started to get more violent.

"We're concerned about it, we're paying attention to it and looking into some leads," Alamshaw said. "We'll do everything we need to do to apprehend them."

Keith Paul covers crime and public safety for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4057 or by e-mail at keith@lasvegassun.com.