Poker Player Robs Bank Between Casino Visits

A poker player with "a significant gambling problem" may be facing several years behind bars after cutting short his play at one Oklahoma City casino to rob a bank, before heading straight to a second casino to continue his gambling.

28-year old Frankie Paul Gabaldon has been charged with bank robbery after investigators found that the man wanted for robbing the First United Bank matched the description of a man seen leaving the Riverwind Casino, later discovered playing at the nearby Newcastle Casino – much of his $3000 haul already gone.

According to court testimony and surveillance camera footage, the alleged bank robber left the Riverwind Casino, five minutes later appearing at First United where he ‘approached the counter and said "Give me all your money in your top drawer," according to Kyle Schwab reporting for The Oklahoman.

The FBI affidavit also claims that ‘the robber said he had a weapon in his waistband and lifted his shirt to show a dark object’, upon which the bank teller ‘gave the robber $3,000 cash, all in $100 bills.’

Law enforcement officers soon discovered that the car which the robber fled in was also caught on surveillance footage from the Riverwind Casino minutes earlier – the casino at which Gabaldon’s girlfriend worked, as had Gabaldon himself until being fired for "gambling on the clock" according to the FBI.

The girlfriend identified Gabaldon from the bank’s security footage and in court testimony stated that he "was experiencing financial difficulties and had a significant gambling problem."

Gabaldon denied the charges against him, stating that “he was gambling at Riverwind Casino at approximately 3:30 p.m. and then left for Newcastle Casino."

However, an Oklahoma City firefighter testified that he had stopped to help a motorist who he identified as Gabaldon who “stated he had $3,000 and needed help," after which he claims he dropped Gabaldon off at Newcastle Casino, where he was later arrested with $1,400 in his pocket.

At his bail hearing he was released and told, "No gambling of any kind, anywhere," by U.S. Magistrate Judge Shon T. Erwin, but having disappeared from his halfway house for several hours Gabaldon was again brought before the court and released on the same conditions, the judge telling him:

"Don't disappoint me. I'm taking yet another chance on you."