Jurors hear opening statements in $165k casino heists trial of Las Vegas police officer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jurors have begun hearing opening statements Tuesday morning in the trial of a Las Vegas police officer accused of a series of casino heists.
Prosecutors for the federal government are expected to paint the officer as a gambling addict who carried out the robberies as his debts snowballed. Caleb Rogers, 35, allegedly stole nearly $165,000 from three casinos off the Las Vegas Strip over four months while his police colleagues were trying to catch the thief. Authorities have said Rogers was armed during at least one of the heists with a weapon issued by the police department he joined in 2015.
Assistant U.S. attorney Daniel Cowhig told the jury in his opening statement that he planned to lay out a “roadmap of facts of the case,” in order “to prove to you he committed all three of these robberies.”
Rogers, dressed in a gray suit with his hair pulled back into a low bun, showed no emotion as Cowhig revealed details of the case to the jury for the first time.
Rogers’ attorney, Richard Pocker, has said the government’s evidence in two of the robberies is weak, saying the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectives had pressured two people, including Rogers’ brother, into identifying him as the suspect to close out the cases.
The trial is expected to last through the end of the week.
Prosecutors have said Rogers made off with more than $85,000 in the first two robberies between November 2021 and January 2022.
In February 2022, they said, the officer bagged an additional $79,000 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, but security guards detained him outside following a brief struggle.
A police department spokesperson said last week that Rogers has been on unpaid leave “without police powers,” pending the outcome of the trial. Rogers was employed as an active-duty patrol officer at the time of the robberies, authorities have said.
The witness list includes casino cashiers, security guards and Josiah Rogers, who identified his brother on video captured by casino security cameras during the first two robberies. Josiah Rogers has been granted immunity from prosecution.
Caleb Rogers, who was denied bail and has been in custody on four charges since his arrest last year, used his brother’s car in one of the robberies and then instructed him to get rid of it, according to court documents.