Authorities identify suspect in casino robbery

Lisa Snedeker

Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

Authorities identified a suspect in the most recent in a string of robberies at Las Vegas Strip resorts.

Las Vegas police were looking Tuesday for Reginald Johnson, 27. They want to question him about Monday's early morning robbery at the Treasure Island resort's main casino cage.

A lone gunman jumped over the main casino cage just after midnight hitting and robbing a cashier, police said. He shot at and missed two security guards as he fled with an undisclosed amount of money, said Alan Feldman, spokesman for MGM Mirage, which owns Treasure Island hotel-casino.

Monday's robbery was the latest in a string of brazen armed robberies of Strip casinos and the second robbery at Treasure Island in less than four months. Police are investigating similarities in the two Treasure Island holdups.

Johnson and his brother are suspects in the July 12 robbery of the Treasure Island main casino cage when two armed men sent two employees to the hospital when they pistol-whipped a security guard and a cashier and escaped with a large amount of money.

Johnson's brother, Donnell Johnson, is being held in Miami on other charges, said police Lt. John Alamshaw of Metro's robbery unit. He added that charges likely will be filed against Donnell Johnson in the July robbery.

Treasure Island also was robbed in April 1997.

Police don't think, however, that the Treasure Island robberies are connected to the June 3 robbery at the Bellagio hotel-casino or a series of other Strip casino robberies over the past two years, despite similarities.

In the Bellagio casino cage robbery, two men jumped over the casino cage and took about $160,000 in cash and casino chips while a third stood lookout.

Prosecutors and attorneys for two of the suspects in the Bellagio robbery - Jose Vigoa and Luis Suarez - return to court Wednesday when District Judge Kathy Hardcastle will set a trial date for the pair.

The third suspect, Oscar Cisneros Sanchez, hanged himself in his cell earlier this month.

In the past two years, robbers have staged casino heists at the New York-New York, Mandalay Bay, Desert Inn and MGM Grand hotels.