Man Faces 20 Years of Jail Time for Casino Chips Robbery

A burglary attempt at the Illani Casino Resort in Ridgefield, Washington, ended badly for the perpetrator who was arrested after being taken down by a taser.

Chips Drill Is No Thrill

Lucas Bunn, a 25-year old man from Kelso, Washington, allegedly stole a handful of $500 chips after drilling into a locked chip cart but despite his escape from the casino premises, deputies who responded to the signal from casino security about a burglary in progress caught on camera in the high-rollers parlor, followed him to a nearby gas station where he was arrested.

Upon the arrest of the holder of lengthy criminal record Bunn, police recovered a grinder, grinding wheels, high-vis construction vest, and 25 chips with $500 nomination. Nearby was found a gray wig allegedly used by Bunn to deceive casino security upon entering the premises.

Lucas Bunn, on $5,000 bail since mid-March when he was arrested for burglary, possession of stolen property, and obstruction of a police officer, has been arrested 7 times in Washington State since 2017. His $5,000 bond was immediately doubled during the initial court hearing on Wednesday due to the new charges.

Bunn was charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree theft and had his bail set at $15,000. The court appointed him a defense attorney and set a formal arraignment for May 12, while Bunn is staring at a maximum 10-year in prison due to the burglary charge, which could be raised to 20 years on the felony theft count.

Banned from Entering the Casino

According to security personnel at Illani Casino, in December 2020 Bunn was kicked out of the casino for unidentified reasons and was banned from ever returning, but Bunn himself stated in his affidavit that the casino security guys believed to have detected on two occasions someone looking like him.

The grey wig found by the police nearby the arrest site suggests Bunn used it in an attempt to deceive security cameras, but the latest developments in digital technologies make it almost impossible to deceive modern surveillance software irrespective of any disguise used.

Historically, disguised crime attempts did not end well, after two attempts at the Bellagio in 2017 and 2019 for armed poker-room robberies allowed the intruder to escape during the first attempt but got him shot and killed during the second.

Stealing casino chips is not like stealing money, and even if Bunn had succeeded, he would have faced a mountain of obstacles before being able to exchange them for cash. One does not need to look any further than 2010 for evidence when the notorious Bellagio “Biker Bandit” was caught due to his attempts to cash the chips on the twoplustwo poker forum and online.