Casino guard apparently walks off with $148,000

Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

RENO -- A security guard who had worked less than six months at a downtown casino apparently walked off with $148,000 she was supposed to have been taking to a vault early today.

Muriel Rucker, 39, was given two containers of money to take from the main cashier cage to the vault shortly after midnight. Instead, she took the money and left the Club Cal-Neva casino, police believe.

"We're trying to find witnesses who can identify what happened," Police Detective Sgt. Todd Shipley said.

He added that police had a second suspect in the case and believe it was a planned theft.

"Indications are it was not a spur-of-the-moment thing," he said.

He said the FBI would be invited to join the investigation, but was not expected to since the theft didn't involve a federal institution and Rucker apparently had not left the state.

He said she had worked at the Cal-Neva for about six months.

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