{"id":231160,"date":"2016-06-30T06:06:23","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T20:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=231160"},"modified":"2016-06-30T06:06:23","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T20:06:23","slug":"robber-strikes-2-poker-game-rooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/robber-strikes-2-poker-game-rooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Robber strikes at 2 poker game rooms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-231160 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/robber-strikes-2-poker-game-rooms\/robbery-main-pix-1\/'>Robbery-main-pix-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-231192'>\n\t\t\t\tSurveillance cameras caught this unidentified man, carrying a backpack, staging a daylight robbery at Sun Palace Hotel\u2019s poker room on Saturday (above) and at Martha\u2019s Store\u2019s game room on Tuesday. Inset photo shows the suspect\u2019s get-away car. The suspect, who used the same attire and modus, managed to steal over $5,000 cash in the two incidents. (Contributed Photos)\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/robber-strikes-2-poker-game-rooms\/robbery-main-pix-2\/'>Robbery-main-pix-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/robber-strikes-2-poker-game-rooms\/robbery-inset-pix\/'>Robbery-inset-pix<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>An unidentified man, carrying a backpack, staged a daylight robbery twice during a four-day period at two poker establishments on Saipan. Both incidents were caught by surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect managed to get a poker machine\u2019s cash box containing $5,231 in bills from Sun Palace Hotel\u2019s poker room in Susupe on Saturday at noon and over $30 in coins from Martha Retail Store\u2019s poker room in Garapan on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Department of Public Safety acting spokesman Jason Tarkong said yesterday that the suspect was described as a local male in his mid 30s with dark complexion and about 5\u20196\u201d tall and 180 lbs.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said in the Martha\u2019s Store case, the suspect was wearing a blue boonie\/bush hat with sunglasses on top of the hat, a gray hooded-type sweater, checkered blue and gray shorts, and slippers.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect was carrying an Under Armour backpack.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said the suspect drove away in an old model white Toyota Corolla four door-sedan with tinted windows.<\/p>\n<p>In the Sun Palace Hotel case, Saipan Tribune watched the video and observed the same suspect wearing the same bonnie\/bush hat, checkered shorts, and slippers, and an Under Armour backpack.<\/p>\n<p>The only difference is that the suspect was wearing a gray T-shirt. Witnesses said the suspect also fled aboard a white car.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said police officers responded to Martha\u2019s Store on Tuesday afternoon and met with the manager, who reported the matter to the police.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said the theft was discovered when employees were searching for the poker machines\u2019 master key and could not find it.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said the store manager reviewed the video surveillance and discovered the crime.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said investigation showed that the suspect entered the store at 1:19pm and walked into the poker room. <\/p>\n<p>The suspect approached the poker attendant\u2019s counter and grabbed the key for the poker machines.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect then opened three poker machines, but managed to get only over $30 in coins as the cash boxes in the machines were locked. He, however, caused damage worth about $500 to one machine.<\/p>\n<p>Tarkong said the suspect walked out, purchased a drink from the store, and drove away aboard the white Toyota Corolla. <\/p>\n<p>In Saturday\u2019s case, Sun Palace Hotel owner Shirley Kim told Saipan Tribune that the suspect came to the poker game room at 11:34am and pretended to be a customer.<\/p>\n<p>Kim said when the suspect was alone in the game room, he opened one of the machines using a tool and removed the cash box and put it in his backpack.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect, who was carrying a cell phone, then left at 12:26pm.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, since the incident yesterday, only two of the three poker machines have been functional. <\/p>\n<p>Kim said they discovered the robbery when one customer called the front desk when he noticed that there was problem with one machine as its wirings were sticking out. <\/p>\n<p>Kim said they then called the police.<\/p>\n<p>Crime Stoppers is seeking the public\u2019s help to solve the two cases. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An unidentified man, carrying a backpack, staged a daylight robbery twice during a four-day period&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":231190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[12287,38,3116,1268],"class_list":["post-231160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-martha-retail-store","tag-saipan-tribune","tag-sun-palace-hotel","tag-toyota-corolla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}