Robbery suspect refuses 911 call

Keith Paul

Monday, May 6, 2002 | 9:21 a.m.

Michelle Billesbach and Gene Washington's luck ran out at the gaming tables and again when they tried to get money for the ride home from Las Vegas to California, Metro Police said.

Billesbach was apparently surprised when a man ran out of a pawnshop in the northwest part of town Thursday asking to use her cell phone to report a robbery. The man was equally shocked when she refused, police said.

Billesbach, who was sitting in a white Lincoln Navigator in the parking lot, had a good reason for not helping: Police allege she was the getaway driver and Washington was the robber.

A masked gunman entered the pawnshop about 9:45 a.m. Thursday and ordered the shop's workers and customers onto the floor, Metro Police said. One man was able to slip out to call police.

The witness, undaunted by the first rejection, ran to a nearby store and had someone call 911. Workers then went outside and saw a white Lincoln Navigator speeding out of the parking lot with the suspect, Lt. John Alamshaw of Metro's robbery unit said.

"I bet they talked about (Billesbach being approached by the witness) within a second of pulling out," Alamshaw said.

Police were given a partial California license plate from the Navigator. Metro detectives put word out to California authorities that the two suspects may have been headed to California.

A California Highway Patrol air unit spotted a Navigator on Interstate 15, and troopers in patrol cars caught up to the vehicle about 30 miles into California. Police found a gun, ski mask and cash in the vehicle thought to be from the robbery, Alamshaw said.

Also inside the car police found evidence to indicate the pair had stayed in Las Vegas for several days and had been gambling, he said.

Billesbach, 29, and Washington, 33, were being held in a California jail, charged with the robbery. They are also charged with robbing the same liquor store three times in February and March in Rosamond, Calif.

Kern County Sheriff's officials took Billesbach and Washington back to Kern County, where they were held in the Mojave jail, officials said.

The couple is suspected in a series of robberies of pawnshops and payday loan businesses in Las Vegas and Henderson.

Alamshaw said the witness in the parking lot could assist in the investigation.

"It will help putting her at the scene," he said.