Suspect in Bellagio robbery found dead in jail cell

Monday, Oct. 9, 2000 | 9:30 a.m.

A man charged in a June robbery at the Bellagio resort that netted $160,000 in cash and casino chips hanged himself in his jail cell, police said.

Oscar Sanchez, 23, was found Saturday morning hanging from a bed sheet tied to a ceiling vent in his one-man Clark County Detention Center cell.

Investigators believe he committed suicide, but the coroner's office will make an official ruling on the cause of death, said police Sgt. Marc Joseph.

"He was checked on at midnight and one other time after that before they found him dead just after 4 (in the morning)," Joseph said. "They do constant checks on inmates."

Sanchez and Jose Vigoa, 41, were arrested June 7 in connection with a robbery at the Bellagio four days earlier.

Sanchez later confessed to the crime, saying he drove the getaway van. He also implicated Vigoa and a third suspect, Luis Suarez, in the crime.

Sanchez also confessed to five other robberies.

Although formal charges had not been filed, Sanchez and Vigoa were suspects in a series of armored truck heists and casino robberies that dated back to September 1998.

The two were suspected in the brazen March 3 armored truck holdup outside a Henderson clothing store that left two guards dead.

Sanchez, whose trial with Vigoa in the Bellagio case was set to begin Nov. 6, was being held without bond at the time of his death.