Casino Heist: $400K Vanishes, Security Guard Knocked Out in Gaming Machine Robbery

Posted on: March 20, 2024, 08:25h. 

Last updated on: March 20, 2024, 09:45h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Police are hunting for three armed bandits who robbed about $400K in gaming proceeds that were being transported this week in a van in Chambersburg, Pa.

Three masked and hooded suspects
Three masked and hooded suspects, pictured above. They are persons of interest in the robbery of a van in Pennsylvania. The money had been collected from gaming machines. (Image: Chambersburg Police Department)

At about 1 p.m. on Monday, the robbers drove up to an unmarked van outside of a laundromat at Southgate Mall. The bandits got out of their vehicle and headed to the van.

One bandit reportedly pistol-whipped a security guard in the head and stole his firearm, according to news reports. A second robber then entered the van.

He stole seven cases containing the loot while the guards were kept at gunpoint. The robbers then rushed back to their vehicle and fled from the crime scene.

The extent of the guard’s injuries was not immediately known. Only one guard was injured.

No shots were fired in the incident and it’s unknown if the suspects said anything to the guards during the holdup.

Pennsylvania state police suspect the robbers may have headed into Maryland or drove into Pennsylvania’s Cumberland or Adams counties after the heist.

The three bandits were still at large as of Wednesday morning.

Cash Boxes Located

Hours after the robbery, police found eight empty cash boxes and four empty bins along the side of the road in Franklin County, Pa., according to PennLive.com, a regional news site. They had been stolen during Monday’s robbery.

The stolen money had been collected by the guards from video gaming machines located in different local businesses. One of the machines was in the Spot Laundromat, which is located at the mall.

The machines belong to a company called “Pa Amusements,” according to LehighValleyLive.com, a regional news outlet.

In addition to collecting money in Chambersburg, the security guards were to stop on Monday in Greencastle and Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, to collect money from other gaming machines.

The machines provide players with games of skill as opposed to games of chance, according to Pennsylvania TV station WGAL.

Earlier Robbery

As authorities investigated the heist, persons of interest linked to a January residential robbery, also in Chambersburg, could have been somehow involved in Monday’s holdup, according to the Franklin County Free Press.

“One suspect has already been identified and taken into custody, while the others are considered persons of interest, not necessarily suspects,” the Free Press reported about January’s incident. The persons of interest are men in their teens or early 20s, the report added.