Casino Heist Michigan
- FBI agents have said a prosthetic face mask helped a man pose as an elderly gambler to pull off a $100,000 casino heist. Suspect John Christoper Colletti, 35, was arrested at the Prairie Band.
- Directed by John Frankenheimer. With Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, James Frain. After assuming his dead cell-mate's identity to get with the other man's girlfriend, an ex-convict finds himself a reluctant participant in a casino heist.
A Michigan man using prosthetic faces to pose as an elderly man stole more than $100,000 from casino-goers in Michigan and Kansas, according to the FBI.
John Christopher Colletti of Harper Woods, 55, was arrested in Kansas with records unsealed Thursday in federal court in Detroit, according to The Detroit News.
The charges are reportedly contained in a 17-page report, which alleges Colletti stole identities by buying personal information online and then making phony driver’s licenses to collect the cash.
FBI: One Detroit casino heist netted $30,000
On May 23, 2019, the FBI alleges, Colletti wore a prosthetic mask, blue jacket, dark cap, blue jeans and sunglasses inside MGM Grand Detroit.
What Is An Escape Room?
Google allows users to search the Web for images, news, products, video, and other content. Police say a $500K armored truck heist in Greektown looks suspicious. A thief disguised as a security guard hit the jackpot outside the Greektown Casino Friday morning when he stole several.
He then made 15 cash withdrawals from a kiosk totaling $30,000 before leaving in a cab.
He was then dropped off at Pegasus Taverna in Greektown, near Greektown Casino-Hotel, where he changed in the bathroom. Upon leaving, he was no longer wearing the disguise and had a black trash bag.
The FBI alleges Colletti stole $98,840 from 10 victims at MGM Grand over a two-month period last spring.
VIP program allowed cash advances
The FBI said Colletti targeted players enrolled in a VIP program that allowed cash advances at kiosks. The advances were linked to the victims’ bank accounts.
The kiosks are monitored by closed-circuit televisions. Each time, Colletti would make multiple withdrawals for his scheme.
Colletti also obtained personal information that allowed the transactions to be completed.
Colletti caught in Kansas as pandemic unfurled
On March 12, four days before the Detroit casinos closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colletti was arrested in Kansas.
Colletti was nabbed by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribal Police at the Prairie Band Casino and Resort in Mayetta, KS.
There, he was approached by security officers and evaded them by going to the bathroom, leaving behind clothes, a walker and $11,000 in cash, along with two Michigan driver’s licenses.
The licenses had altered photos of an elderly man in a mask. They also had sticky notes with the victims’ Social Security numbers and phone numbers.
He was arrested with two more driver’s licenses in his pocket, and his rental car contained four prosthetic masks and a straw hat matching the one Colletti allegedly wore at MGM Grand.
An FBI K9 deputy found the prosthetic mask on the ground close to the casino.
FBI: Colletti collected 83 driver’s licenses in all
The search uncovered 83 driver’s licenses, 14 insurance cards, and books on how to get away with crimes.
There also was a recovered flash drive that contained forged documents, background checks, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets with more than 1,000 names.
“Colletti also had photos of himself trying on the prosthetic masks,” the FBI agent wrote in the complaint.
Colletti is being held without bond until he can be extradited to Michigan.
The plan allegedly hatched by the casino mogul and his Russian actress wife wasn’t exactly worthy of Ocean’s Eleven when it comes to felonious sophistication.
As alleged, the perfect heist, it sure wasn’t. How the heck Rodney and Ekaterina Baker expected to waltz into a remote Yukon village of 100 people and demand a COVID-19 vaccination meant for Indigenous elders without sticking out like proverbial sore thumbs is hard to comprehend.
But that’s what the now-notorious couple stands accused of doing, after Yukon authorities charged them with breaking the territory’s public-health rules to get the scarce vaccine.
Read more: Great Canadian Gaming CEO, wife ticketed after allegedly flying to Yukon to get COVID-19 vaccine
Rodney Baker resigned as CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corp. after he and his wife were each fined $1,150 for breaking Yukon’s Civil Emergency Measures Act.
The outrageous story of the millionaire couple’s vaccine skullduggery has made headlines around the world, and it still has people fuming all across Canada — especially in the Yukon.
“Here in the Yukon we talk pretty plainly about stuff and I’m trying not to use expletives,” Yukon Community Services Minister John Streicker told me.
“We’re choked. We’re absolutely choked.”
He’s not alone. Many more people are furious that a wealthy, privileged couple would even think of jumping the vaccine queue, especially in a remote and vulnerable Indigenous community.
And many others are frustrated that the punishment doesn’t come close to fitting the offence.
Rodney Baker reportedly made $45.9 million on stock options over the past 13 months and stands to pocket an additional $28 million if the sale of Great Canadian to an American buyer goes through later this year.
For a guy in that stratospheric income bracket, a $1,150 fine barely qualifies as pocket change.
Could they face stiffer punishments? Under Yukon law, the offence also carries a potential six-month jail term.
“Normally … we just fine people, but every once in a while there’s also a court date set, so I’m still looking to follow up on that with our minister of justice,” Streicker told me, adding the territorial government alerted the RCMP to the case.
Casino Heist Guide
“We advise the RCMP and let them do their job.”
Read more: B.C. couple who flew to Yukon for COVID-19 vaccine ineligible for 2nd dose until August
But a legal analyst said pursuing the case could be complicated, especially if the Bakers have already paid their fines.
“Many people are clamouring for them to go to jail, especially when we send homeless people to jail for stealing a sandwich,” said Toronto lawyer and legal analyst Ari Goldkind.
“But if they’ve paid their tickets already, they’ve admitted guilt and they’re done with it. That’s the smartest thing they could do.”
It’s not clear if the Bakers have paid their fines, or what the outcome of any RCMP probes may be.
But that won’t deter people from demanding tougher justice. A petition started by members of the White River First Nation in Beaver Creek, Yukon, calls for stiffer penalties against the couple.
Federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, meanwhile, said the Bakers should consider paying “reparations” to the community they offended.
“I understand these people are wealthy and I won’t tell them what to do with their money but, you know, perhaps reparations are due at some level,” he said.
“There’s certainly a gesture of individual reconciliation and contrition that can be exercised, and certainly, communities in need like White River First Nation would more than appreciate that.”
Read more: Indigenous Services minister ‘disgusted’ by B.C. couple who flew to Yukon for vaccine
One thing is clear, though: the couple are paying a heavy price in the court of public opinion.
“Their life as they know it is forever changed,” Goldkind told me.
“Lots of people might still be their friends but they’re going to be shunned in a lot of places. This is a couple that made a terrible decision.
“Do I think they need to be banished to the gulag forever? No, but certainly the punishment that they’re going to get from the rest of the world and broader society is significant.”
If anything, the public shaming will hopefully deter others from trying to pull a similar stunt.
With deadly and contagious COVID variants on the rise and vaccines in short supply, that might be the best thing that comes out of the great Yukon vaccine caper.
Casino Heist Set Up
Mike Smyth is host of ‘The Mike Smyth Show’ on Global News Radio 980 CKNW in Vancouver and a commentator for Global News. You can reach him at mike@cknw.com and follow him on Twitter at @MikeSmythNews.