Man arrested for breaking into several Paris Las Vegas hotel rooms with a flathead screwdriver

[Dan Druff]

Dude was targeting suites near the elevator, which had double doors. Apparently those were vulnerable to being opened with a flathead screwdriver (not sure how), even if the deadbolt was on. I'm not sure if the victims had the latch on.

All of the victims were in the room sleeping while the burglaries, which typically occurred between 3:00-4:30am. The accused perpetrator, Robert Black, would only steal cash in the rooms. He would not take electronic devices, jewelry, or credit cards.

He was arrested when Paris security set up a "bait room" (not a master-bait room), which was full of hidden cameras and a wallet with $600. They did this in the exact type of suite he was burglarizing. Sure enough, Black showed up, and security entered to detain him. He attempted to fight them off but was unsuccessful.

The burglaries had been going on for the past two months. As the arrest occurred on June 2, it's not clear if he did this during the very beginning of WSOP (aside from the bait room), since the WSOP began on May 30. I'm guessing that was his first shot during WSOP days.

Poker players are a little bit rattled that a flathead screwdriver was able to get through the lock system at Paris.

It is important to lock up valuables in the room safe while sleeping, for exactly this reason. I sometimes felt like a fool doing so, but this shows I was making the right decision. Most room burglars are not looking to physically harm people, and in fact run when confronted.





https://news3lv.com/news/local/bait-...n-nevada-crime

[Dan Druff]

In case you're wondering why there are no cameras in the hallways...

It has long been assumed in Vegas that visitors are looking to let loose, and would feel uncomfortable if hallways were on camera. This would show who entered and left each room, which would make some guests nervous if they got a hooker or whatever. Without hallway cameras, they don't have to worry about this.

The lack of hallway cameras was a problem when Greg Raymer was robbed at Bellagio, after being followed up to his room. The two perpetrators were identified by casino footage, as they were seen following him after he cashed out from the poker table.

[limitles]

Where did he graduate?
Breaking in while the room is occupied versus
vacant? It's Vegas but this guy does not understand the odds

I'd love to hear his thought process

[Dan Druff]

Where did he graduate?
Breaking in while the room is occupied versus
vacant? It's Vegas but this guy does not understand the odds

I'd love to hear his thought process

The time he chose was actually smart, aside from the fact that he would likely be encountering sleeping people.

At 3:00-4:30am, almost everyone is either sleeping or out of their room. It is rare that someone will just be sitting awake in the room at that time, unless they just got back in.

Presumably he would listen in the door to hear if there was any activity. I'm not sure what he did with the peephole, as described in the story. I'm guessing it was to either allow him to see into the room, or to prevent people from looking out and seeing him when he's messing with the door.

The other advantage of that late hour is that the hallway is likely to be empty. There are no maids around, and few guests are walking the hallways at that time. He could not accomplish this at 7pm without people entering/exiting other rooms and seeing him.

[NickyPipes]

He did not run, he fought them

[limitles]

Where did he graduate?
Breaking in while the room is occupied versus
vacant? It's Vegas but this guy does not understand the odds

I'd love to hear his thought process

The time he chose was actually smart, aside from the fact that he would likely be encountering sleeping people.

At 3:00-4:30am, almost everyone is either sleeping or out of their room. It is rare that someone will just be sitting awake in the room at that time, unless they just got back in.

Presumably he would listen in the door to hear if there was any activity. I'm not sure what he did with the peephole, as described in the story. I'm guessing it was to either allow him to see into the room, or to prevent people from looking out and seeing him when he's messing with the door.

The other advantage of that late hour is that the hallway is likely to be empty. There are no maids around, and few guests are walking the hallways at that time. He could not accomplish this at 7pm without people entering/exiting other rooms and seeing him.

All things equal, a room with occupant/s involves a potential identifier
at the very least. That is not a factor with an empty room.

I don't know how long it takes to jimmy a door but he could easily pass it off as a maintenance worker

There are too many unknowns when you factor in a human being

[Dan Druff]

He did not run, he fought them

Because security confronted him and tried to apprehend him.

If a victim sat up in their bed, he likely would have ran.

[BartHanson]

Was watching an old episode of the LockPickingLawyer on YouTube and he recommended using portable door locks for hotels. I picked up a few off of Amazon today for my upcoming stay at Paris/Horseshoe. These portable locks lock from the inside..

Portable Door Lock 2Pack Extra Lock for Additional Privacy and Safety in Home,Hotel and Apartment,Prevent Unauthorized Entry,Protect Family Security in Traveling,Home,Bedroom,Hotel,Apartment,AirBNB https://a.co/d/6Nl2W5h

[tyde]

LOL @ Bart

you sound like an old lady afraid to cross the street

bro are you one of those pussies who wears a helmet riding your bicycle ?

do you use those paper toilet seat protectors when you take a dump in a public restroom ?

at this point, it really wouldn’t surprise me much if you snuggled up with a can of Lysol at bedtime clutching it tight like a toddler does with a teddy bear

I’m guessing you’re also on a gluten free diet and eat egg white omelettes

for God’s sake man, how much more emasculated can you possibly get ?

I highly recommend you cut back sharply on your morning estrogen dose before your man boobs get much bigger

100% you talk to your fucking cat when you’re watching The View

ya might as well just cut your dick off now and get it over with, so you can start shopping for a prosthetic vagina

[limitles]

LOL @ Bart

you sound like an old lady afraid to cross the street

bro are you one of those pussies who wears a helmet riding your bicycle ?

do you use those paper toilet seat protectors when you take a dump in a public restroom ?

at this point, it really wouldn’t surprise me much if you snuggled up with a can of Lysol at bedtime clutching it tight like a toddler does with a teddy bear

I’m guessing you’re also on a gluten free diet and eat egg white omelettes

for God’s sake man, how much more emasculated can you possibly get ?

I highly recommend you cut back sharply on your morning estrogen dose before your man boobs get much bigger

100% you talk to your fucking cat when you’re watching The View

ya might as well just cut your dick off now and get it over with, so you can start shopping for a prosthetic vagina

This guy is not ducking you he is avoiding you because you have no point to make. Nothing you have said relates to any topic.

The nonsensical tirades have a place but if that's all you have you will be ignored.

[tyde]

Noooooooooooooooo

please don’t ignore me les, I don’t think I could live another day without your affection and approval on an 8th tier poker message forum

please reconsider and give me another chance to prove myself worthy, and regain your admiration and respect

It means so much to me

[PROUDBOY MAGA 2024]

LOL @ Bart

you sound like an old lady afraid to cross the street

bro are you one of those pussies who wears a helmet riding your bicycle ?

do you use those paper toilet seat protectors when you take a dump in a public restroom ?

at this point, it really wouldn’t surprise me much if you snuggled up with a can of Lysol at bedtime clutching it tight like a toddler does with a teddy bear

I’m guessing you’re also on a gluten free diet and eat egg white omelettes

for God’s sake man, how much more emasculated can you possibly get ?

I highly recommend you cut back sharply on your morning estrogen dose before your man boobs get much bigger

100% you talk to your fucking cat when you’re watching The View

ya might as well just cut your dick off now and get it over with, so you can start shopping for a prosthetic vagina

Bart Hanson Brother Simpson has lost the little testosterone he has left. PFA's biggest girlie boy!

[Mission146]

With the flathead screwdriver, he probably just found a very slight gap in the door, wedged it in, and pushed over the deadbolt.*** You'd have to have a pretty airtight door (relatively speaking) for that not to be possible.

The hotel was finished in 1999 and last renovations were more than ten years ago. I'd imagine the keycard/lock systems have been updated within the last 25 years (it would be pretty tough not to have done so by now), but I would speculate that, absent doors with significant damage, the physical doors themselves have either not been changed at all or have been unchanged since the last renovation.

To answer the question of why he would do this at 3:00a.m. and occupied rooms, I obviously can't know, but here's what I'd speculate:

1.) Everything that Dan said about the rooms either being unoccupied or the guest is sleeping.

2.) Everything Dan said about the hallways not being particularly busy.

3.) Another reason that I think he wouldn't hang out and wait for rooms to specifically be unoccupied is threefold:

A.) You're hanging out in the hallway waiting for people to leave. This is fairly suspicious on its own and all it would take is one call to management (or front desk visit) for that entire game to be up. More than that, they'd have an accurate description of you and would probably want your name when they came up to talk to you about what the hell you're doing...they'd also want to get a picture of you, and if you refused and opted to leave, would make it a point to walk you out in such a way that one of the surveillance cameras gets a good shot of you.

If anything were to come up missing after that, well, we have our #1 suspect, don't we?

With that, hanging out in the hallways and just waiting for people to leave is simply not an option. Someone would notice and report it to staff eventually.

B.) People are more likely to leave the cash out when they are actually in the room. I don't know how many people are going to leave any physical cash in the room when leaving, so if you can do it silently, an occupied room can be assumed to be much more likely to have cash.

C.) You can also pick your targets this way, although, since this guy fell right into the trap he either got too brave or it was a very good trap. If someone (or a couple) goes up to their room looking pretty trashed (drunk), then you can go up with them and see what room they walk into. You'd walk casually down the hall as if going to some other room and this would not look suspicious at all. The individual/couple would also be less likely to specifically remember you riding up with them if they're drunk.

If they're really trashed, you figure they won't be awake much longer, so you don't have to sit there and camp out the room. I'd think you'd come back in about an hour and, as Dan said, listen for all to be silent inside of the room. If they're drunk and asleep, then they are out cold. Another side effect of being drunk is that they are less likely to take care to hide/protect/store cash.

I'd also imagine that there are rooms he broke into that weren't stolen from, especially if the room was dark. He'd be pretty bold to risk using any light source (but maybe he did), but assuming he didn't, he'd just be looking for quick cash left on nightstands, dressers or wallets left in those places, or perhaps in pockets.

It's always a good idea to use the safe, but I'd imagine if the money was even remotely hidden, the perpetrator wouldn't even bother...especially if he hadn't become overconfident yet.

DISCLAIMER: Used to manage hotels for about a decade in total, still just my opinion.

***You also don't have to get all the way to where you're, "On the inside" of the deadbolt. Even if you hit the outside of it and push over slightly, that enables you to do kind of a quick slide-then-flick to get at least the tip of the flathead inside the deadbolt---smooth sailing from there.

[Mission146]

The time he chose was actually smart, aside from the fact that he would likely be encountering sleeping people.

At 3:00-4:30am, almost everyone is either sleeping or out of their room. It is rare that someone will just be sitting awake in the room at that time, unless they just got back in.

Presumably he would listen in the door to hear if there was any activity. I'm not sure what he did with the peephole, as described in the story. I'm guessing it was to either allow him to see into the room, or to prevent people from looking out and seeing him when he's messing with the door.

The other advantage of that late hour is that the hallway is likely to be empty. There are no maids around, and few guests are walking the hallways at that time. He could not accomplish this at 7pm without people entering/exiting other rooms and seeing him.

All things equal, a room with occupant/s involves a potential identifier
at the very least. That is not a factor with an empty room.

I don't know how long it takes to jimmy a door but he could easily pass it off as a maintenance worker

There are too many unknowns when you factor in a human being

Assuming the deadbolt is the only obstruction to jimmying the door, probably under three seconds if you know where (and how much) pressure to put.

I could have got into some rooms in one of the hotels I managed in under a second, but the clack would have been way too audible for this guy's purposes.

[BCR]

It’s a risky time to rob people, but I assume way more profitable. I’m never leaving $5k in my room, but always assume I’m fine in my room with door locked. Rather routine for me to throw wallet on nightstand and pass out.

Dude must have been really good and stealthy as I’m waiting on the other side of the door ready to stick a fork in your jugular or slam a 9 iron off you dome, whatever I have in the room if I hear you trying to get in. Makes me wonder if he profiled his targets a bit. Watch who is coming out of those rooms and see who they are first. Lot easier to rob a 70 year old Asian guy if things go sideways. Falling for the dummy room suggests otherwise and he just gambled.

[Mission146]

It’s a risky time to rob people, but I assume way more profitable. I’m never leaving $5k in my room, but always assume I’m fine in my room with door locked. Rather routine for me to throw wallet on nightstand and pass out.

Dude must have been really good and stealthy as I’m waiting on the other side of the door ready to stick a fork in your jugular or slam a 9 iron off you dome, whatever I have in the room if I hear you trying to get in. Makes me wonder if he profiled his targets a bit. Watch who is coming out of those rooms and see who they are first. Lot easier to rob a 70 year old Asian guy if things go sideways. Falling for the dummy room suggests otherwise and he just gambled.

I'm scanning a few sources and one of them says seven robberies just in the course of the investigation; my guess is he started getting cocky. As far as I can tell, criminals usually do.

By, "Course of the investigation," another source reports seven rooms in two hours. Between USD and CAD, he was found with less than 7k on him...so he either had, 'Bad luck,' that night, or as I would speculate, was just getting in and out as quickly as possible---taking only what was easy.

Another source:

https://www.casino.org/news/paris-la...oom-break-ins/

Reports an individual, who I think we can safely assume to be Black, telling investigators that they were woken up by an intruder-who quickly left the room.

By criminal standards, he's not as dumb as some others. For one thing, he only took cash, as taking a physical item of any other kind (and it getting reported then being found on him) would have him dead to rights. He's probably also either read or heard about people getting popped at pawn shops as a result of having stolen something relatively unique and then attempting to hawk it.

I could be wrong, of course, but my guess is he started getting cocky after a few successful hits. Six-Seven in two hours!?

[Karen Nathan]

The Hotel is partly at fault too. Hotel doors shouldn't be able to be open with a flathead screwdriver. WTF. Luckily he was just a burglar and not a Rapist or a Serial Killer. Hotel needs stronger doors that can't be opened up that easily. It's bad enough that Hotel Clerks are giving key cards to People without ID(Inside Edition did a test that was planned with a rape victim who had been raped at a Hotel after a complete Stranger got a key card to her already occupied room and wasn't asked for ID, so he used the key card and went in and raped her. In the Inside Edition test, she had an IE Reporter go downstairs to get a key card for her room. At the Hotel Front Desk he said something like,"Hi, I accidentally locked myself out of room 219. Can I get a new key card? The IDIOTIC Hotel Clerk just blindly gave him the key card, didn't even ask for ID . The IE Reporter opened up the Woman's Hotel with the key card and the Woman was understandably shaken and said "I can't believe you got a key card to my room!" The Reporter said,"Hotel Clerk didn't even ask me for my ID! The Woman said something like,"This is why I no longer feel safe in hotel rooms." Hotel Clerks idiotically giving key cards to already occupied hotel rooms without asking for ID is bad enough, hotel doors being opened with flathead screwdriver is a completely different story!

[BartHanson]

[DJ_Chaps]

JUST WOW AND LOL AT TYDE FOLLOWING BARTGOD AROUND THREAD TO THREAD SWINGING FROM HIS BUTTHAIRS NWP STYLE.

[tgull]

JUST WOW AND LOL AT TYDE FOLLOWING BARTGOD AROUND THREAD TO THREAD SWINGING FROM HIS BUTTHAIRS NWP STYLE.

Tyde's changed. He is not the same guy. Part of this AA cult now and taking his lead from Hoser of all people. If anyone needs a few beers its him. He is attack mode now talking down to posters, walking around casinos passing judgement, etc.. He has changed for the worse.