Montana Cops Investigate Casino Armed Holdups in Butte

Posted on: August 3, 2021, 08:10h. 

Last updated on: August 3, 2021, 09:30h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A small gaming property in Butte, Mont. was robbed this weekend after what’s believed to be the same suspect failed to pull off a robbery at another casino just minutes before. The incidents took place 20 minutes apart on Saturday night, both by a masked robber of similar height.

No one was injured
Lisac’s Tri-Stop and Casino, pictured above. The Butte, Mont. casino was the site of an attempted robbery. A second casino was robbed minutes later on Saturday night. (Image: Lisac’s Tri-Stop and Casino)

In both crimes, a single suspect entered the property and showed a firearm, KXLF, a local TV station, reported. No one was injured.

At approximately 11:45 pm, a man entered Lisac’s Tri-Stop and Casino. He ordered an employee to turn over money. After the worker refused, the bandit attempted to get onto the gaming floor. But a player prevented him by blocking the doorway, the report said.

Apparently frustrated, the robber left. He never got any money.

Then, a short time after midnight, a suspect entered the Happy Endings Casino. On that occasion, the robber was given money after he demanded it be turned over. The exact amount stolen was not provided to the local media.

Same Height, Build

The suspect in both incidents was slender, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, the report revealed based on police statements. During the Lisac robbery, he had on a white coat. His face was covered by a white bandana-style mask. He also wore sunglasses.

During the Happy Endings Casino robbery, he wore a dark beanie-style hat and a dark face mask. He also wore a dark hoodie.

It is unclear if the casinos has surveillance cameras, and if so, if cameras took video or pictures of the suspect or any possible get-away vehicle.

Robbers Chop Off Head With Hatchet

In an unrelated incident, a Montana man who decapitated a winning casino player in 2017 was sentenced in June to 65 years in prison for deliberate homicide.

Donald Ray Cherry, 34, was given the prison term in the Yellowstone County Courthouse in Billings for the killing of Myron Wesley Knight. The death was connected to a robbery after the bandits met Knight at Montana’s Lil’s Casino.

That night, Cherry and a second defendant, Jeffery Glen Haverty, 37, murdered Knight with a hatchet. They also decapitated him while they were at a campsite near the casino.

Knight’s headless body later was found on a dirt trail near the transient camp. After the decapitation, Cherry allegedly hid Knight’s remains. His head was found 30 feet away. It was wrapped in a towel under a pile of leaves.

Haverty was previously sentenced to 50 years in prison for the robbery and killing. That sentence was announced in February 2020.