Police nab 2 men in armed robbery at Rio, third man sought

By Paul Takahashi

Published Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 | 8:38 a.m.

Updated Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 | 4:06 p.m.

Metro Police on Friday made two arrests in connection with a Thursday morning robbery at the Rio, but the alleged gunman was still at large.

Police identified the two men as Edward Land, 41, and Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, 61. Clark County jail records indicate both were booked on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon, burglary with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Authorities are still looking for 45-year-old Steven Gao, accused of walking into the Rio wearing a fedora hat, a wig, a fake mustache and sunglasses, then stealing $33,200 in chips and leaving in a taxi.

An arrest report released Friday indicated Land told police Gao owed him $15,000 and robbed the casino to pay back the debt. All three suspects are Las Vegas residents.

Metro Police Lt. Ray Steiber said Friday that Land dropped Gao off at the Rio in a Land Rover. Police say Land knew of Gao’s plans to rob the casino.

After entering the Rio at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Gao allegedly went to a Pai Gow poker table and started taking chips from the dealer and putting them into a black shoulder bag, Steiber said. The dealer hit Gao’s hand, which prompted him to brandish a gun, police said.

Gao allegedly finished the robbery and left the Rio with Yamaguchi, a cabdriver who police said also knew of Gao’s robbery plans. No one was injured during the incident.

According to the arrest report, Gao made off with $21,000 in $1,000 chips. The rest of the chips stolen were worth $500, $100 and $25 each.

After the robbery, Gao and Yamaguchi went to the Terrible’s hotel-casino at Flamingo and Paradise roads, where Steiber said they met Land. According to the arrest report, video surveillance from Terrible’s showed Gao handing Land a black shoulder bag at about 5 a.m. Thursday.

Land then left the casino alone in the green Land Rover, police said.

Officers arrested Yamaguchi about 9 a.m. Thursday after Lucky Cab tracked down his cab at Terrible’s. According to the arrest report, surveillance footage from the cab’s interior camera showed Yamaguchi placing black tape over the camera’s lens as Gao allegedly committed the robbery.

Additional video footage from an exterior camera showed Gao running from the Rio and getting into the cab, police said.

Audio from the cab’s surveillance system caught Gao saying he was upset he dropped a $10,000 chip and telling Yamaguchi to hide a gun, according to the report.

Yamaguchi confessed his alleged role to Metro investigators and said he knew his involvement was wrong, according to the report. Police recovered $1,000 in casino chips and an unloaded handgun from Yamaguchi’s cab.

Police arrested Land about 5:30 p.m. Thursday after tracing a call Gao made to Land from a pay phone at Terrible’s, allegedly asking him to meet Gao for the “exchange,” according to the report.

After they met, both men went to Land’s house on Retriever Avenue, where Gao allegedly buried some of the stolen chips in the backyard. Police recovered $17,000 worth of chips, a wig and a black shoulder bag from Land’s home, according to the report.

Land also confessed his alleged role to Metro, saying he knew he was wrong but that he was more interested in being repaid a gambling debt by Gao, the report stated.

Gao is still being sought. Police said he might be visiting friends in California.

Yamaguchi and Land have no criminal history in Clark County, but Gao’s record includes traffic violations in 2000; using bad checks in 1999; a series of domestic violence charges in 1998 stemming from a battery charge, which was later dropped; and using counterfeit bills in 1994.

Bail for Yamaguchi and Land was set at $25,000.

The robbery follows a Wednesday court appearance for Anthony M. Carleo, who police say stole about $1.4 million in casino chips on Dec. 14, 2010, from the Bellagio hotel-casino and sped away on a motorcycle into the night.

Carleo was arrested Feb. 3 at the resort after he was allegedly making a transaction to sell the pink $25,000 chips to the undercover police officer.

“The Bellagio (heist) made national and international news. It was a big deal,” Steiber said. “I would hope to think that anyone who would consider robbing a casino at gunpoint would get the message now. You will be caught. That’s evident. We’re going to catch you.”