Prosecutors say this surveillance photo shows Kevin Lides soon before he robbed a cashier at Resorts World Casino. Photo courtesy of the NYPD.
Police nabbed the man suspected of robbing tens of thousands of dollars from Resorts World Casino in June. He had fled to Pennsylvania where he was arrested on Tuesday, authorities said.
Prosecutors said 23-year-old Kevin Lides of Briarwood pretended to have a gun when he robbed $63,000 from the racino Ozone Park on June 29.
In the second floor of the casino, Lides walked up to a cashier’s cage and handed a female employee a note demanding money and threatening to kill her, according to the charges.
He then reached under his shirt as if he was about to grab a gun.
The cashier dolled out the cash from her drawer into a bag and Lides allegedly fled with the score.
“The defendant is accused of brazenly walking into a crowded casino on a Friday afternoon and demanding money. The odds of getting away with such an alleged crime were stacked against him, and his long overdue arrest proves the old adage: you can run but you cannot hid,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Police were able to identify Lides as the suspect after fingerprints from the note and surveillance footage implicated him, according to Brown.
The 106th Precinct Detective Squad followed up on the case and with the help of other law enforcement agencies managed to hunt down Lides in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
He was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Force and is expected to be extradited to New York where he will face charges.
After the crime in June, State Senator Joe Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) pressed the casino to take a look at safety measures.
Resorts World responded by saying it would review its procedures, and since then it has beefed up security at the site, a spokesman said.
That includes stationing security at each cashier’s cage, augmenting patrols in the parking lots and increasing security presence overall.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
