Vegas Armed Robber Used ‘Black Makeup’ During Casino Heist

Las Vegas police have arrested and charged the man they believe to be responsible for the gunpoint robbery of the New York-New York Casino in January – the ‘black male’ initially suspected of being the culprit actually a white man who police say used make-up to change his appearance.

Cameron James Kennedy, has been charged and named in federal court with the heist, apparently arrested two weeks after the January 10th holdup of the cashier’s cage – a robbery following which police described the suspect as:

"A black male, around 30 to 35 years old, wearing a black beanie cap, black hooded jacket, dark jeans, black shoes, black mechanic gloves and black rimmed glasses."

26-year old Kennedy, however, was well-known to police – and was actually on federal supervision for another alleged bank robbery at the time, and was as required to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet. He allegedly cut off the GPS device and disguised himself as a black man shortly before robbing the casino, during which he is alleged to have “lifted his hooded jacket and displayed a black semiautomatic handgun in his waistband,” according to the Department of Justice. He told the cashier:

"I want all your hundreds and don’t mess around. I am not kidding, I want all the hundreds."

Although the sum taken during the robbery was not released at the time, documents now show that he escaped with $23,367 – Fox5vegas.com reporting that he ‘placed an order on a $1500 gold bracelet, spent money on marijuana, hotel stays, food, and pre-paid cards’.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, ‘an anonymous tipster told investigators that Kennedy had robbed the casino’ and that ‘phone records placed Kennedy near where the robber was dropped off from the taxi on the morning of the robbery’.

A witness also told police Kennedy visited an apartment ‘in the hours after the robbery wearing black clothing’ according to court records, claiming that:

“Kennedy’s face also appeared darker than usual as though he had wiped something off of his skin.”

Kennedy appeared in court this Monday, where he was ordered to be restrained by leg straps during the hearing, and is due back in court on March 26.

The January heist was the second in three months in Vegas, with the Bellagio Casino on the Las Vegas strip the scene of an earlier armed robbery - a masked man with a gun robbing the poker cage mere feet from players who included actor James Woods – before fleeing the scene in a silver Chevrolet Cruze, the robber yet to be caught.

Doyle Brunson tweeted shortly afterwards that the gunman had missed a huge payday when he failed to notice the highstakes cash game taking place in nearby Bobby’s Room…