Staying at Trump Taj Atlantic City this week. Call me naive, but I’ve always thought casinos are safe. I mean, sure there have been casino heists, but attacking patrons inside the casinos never seemed to me a smart thing to do with all these cameras and security guards. Then this happened.
My mom was attacked when she was about to spin the wheel. She’s scooter-bound and she was carrying her handbag in the front basket. The perp quickly grabbed the bag and ran off. The location was convenient for him as she was playing at the back of the casino, very close to the exit.
The robber was quick. My mom’s handbag wasn’t just sitting in the basket. Having lived in big cities all our lives, my mom knows how to be careful. She wrapped the bag handles around the steering column, and yet, it took the robber less than a second to undo them. He took off so fast that aside from screaming off the top of her lungs, my mom wasn’t able to do anything. Thank goodness, she wasn’t hurt!
Mom is recreating the crime scene for me: Trump Taj Atlantic City 🙂
The security recovered her wallet in the nearby dumpster. The money was gone, but her bank card and medical IDs were still intact. Besides a few hundred dollar loss, she also lost two cell phones (one was the emergency medical phone), and some prescription drugs that we have been trying to recover for her at the nearest pharmacy. Nothin’ ain’t easy.
No, casinos are not safe, and I think I know why. While we were filing out the police report, the detective showed me the snapshot of the perp caught on one of the cameras. Well, I could see it was a guy; I could see what type of clothes he was wearing; but the face was a smudge. You couldn’t make it. If casinos really have this technology that can zoom in on a hand holding the cards, that was employed elsewhere on the floor. What I could get from that glimpse couldn’t help anyone unless the perp walked into the same casino again on the same day (same night in our case), wearing the same clothes.
In February an elderly patron was robbed and viciously beaten at Harras after he was forced to let the assailants inside his room. The casinos’ response to that type of crime is to check electronic keys before you enter the elevator, but how effective is it? All the bad guys would need to do is to stay just one night at a casino and “forget” to leave their key behind.
These excuses for human beings are preying on the weak, disabled and elderly. Be careful inside the casino as much as you would be outside. Do not carry more cash than what you are going to use. And tell your parents to be extra vigilant. Better safe than sorry.
Did the perp have an orange complexion, really weird hair, and keep saying he loves everybody?
Nope, he was silent and very quick.