$500K Monarch Casino Heist Largest in Colorado History

The biggest robbery took place on March 12 in the early morning hours at the Monarch Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The robber took $500.000 in cash.

A carefully planned heist:

According to investigators, during the early morning hours of Daylight Saving Time, a teller left the premises of the Monarch Casino with $500,000 in cash.

Then, at 12:45 AM, the same teller, identified as Sabrina Eddy, 44, was caught on video trying to take $50.000 worth of bricks from the casino’s cage vault, a Division of Gaming investigator said in an affidavit.

In this regard, the affidavit added: “Each time Eddy grabbed the stacks, she placed the stacks into the same box. She put what appeared to be clearing rags in the box and, at about 12:55 am, she taped the box shut.

She then walked out of the casino cage to the parking garage, got into a gold minivan and drove off.”

On that note, investigators added: “She returned an hour later, and grabbed four more bricks of bills — for a total of half a million dollars in all — before driving off again.”

Commenting on the robbery, Ron Kammerzell, former head of the Colorado Division of Gaming who now works as a regulatory consultant to the gaming industry, said: “For something like that to happen, it would’ve had to defeat a number of different levels of casino controls within the property.

“I never heard of a casino theft of this magnitude since gaming became legal in the state in 1991.

“The Division of Gaming would investigate the theft — and the policies and procedures at Monarch that allowed it to happen. One of the large things is trying to identify what went wrong and how you prevent that from occurring in the future.”

However, a spokeswoman for the Division of Gaming, Suzi Karrer, would not comment and did not want to answer further questions.

Confirmation comes from the scene of the robbery:

Officials at the Monarch Casino provided a confirmation that the robbery had indeed taken place, but declined to provide further details, citing the current investigation.

In that regard, Erica Ferris, a spokeswoman, said: “As a business, sometimes unfortunate things happen. We’ve been fortunate in the past.”

The suspect pleaded not guilty:

The affidavit states that “Eddy insisted she did nothing wrong and said she thought casino bosses told her to take out the cash.

“She told investigators she received a call on the casino’s phone from a man purporting to be Monarch’s head of operations. He and another man, who she believed was a cage manager while exchanging texts with him, told her the casino was having a problem with a UPS order and needed the money or the casino would be in breach of contract.

“She said the two men told her the funds would be delivered to a lawyer. She brought the box to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where a man came to her door and took it at approximately 4:36 in the morning.

“When she tried to call back the men who instructed her to take out the money, she told investigators there was no answer. At this time, she called the casino to inform them that she was returning to the casino.”

Moreover, the affidavit emphasized that “Eddy informed the casino that she had taken money off property and thought she might be arrested.

Eddy told investigators she was aware of casino procedures, but said she didn’t follow them because she was instructed by a  “Casino Member” to do otherwise.”

On that note, the affidavit said: “Eddy continued to state she did nothing wrong, but she was just following orders she believed had [been] put out by the casino.”

Eddy was taken into the Gilpin County jail later that day on suspicion of theft and failed to post bond.