Busting Bellagio's Biker Bandit

The sign above the bars promised change & redemption. At best you got your money back, in smaller denominations. You could break a big bill at the same ATM that dispensed it, but for a mix that included coins and quick conversations, Steve preferred the cashier cage.

His favorite teller noticed the moped/scooter helmet he'd worn since an accidental sidewalk face-plant was gone in mid-December and he explained a casino security guard had ordered him to remove it.

It was just a few days after more than a million in high value chips had been stolen at gunpoint a few miles, yet worlds away, on the Vegas Strip. The robber was caught on camera, but not physically, running away while wearing a motorcycle helmet.

Steve explained the guard hadn't seen his cane and leg-brace, or the way he walked, "But you know it only takes about 2 miles an hour."

"2 miles an hour, for what?" Teresa asked.

"For a guy with a badge to catch me, or a woman I like to escape."

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A helmeted bandit who escaped the Bellagio with $1.5 million in chips during a daring gunpoint heist returned to the scene of the crime several times before his luck finally ran out, police said Thursday.

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