M Resort Robbed Three Times at (Fake) Gunpoint, Evangelist Pastor Arrested

Posted on: November 7, 2017, 03:45h. 

Last updated on: November 16, 2017, 01:39h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Gregory Bolusan, a local pastor, has been arrested and charged for allegedly robbing Penn National Gaming’s M Resort casino at the far south end of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Gregory Bolusan Las Vegas pastor M robberies
Las Vegas evangelist pastor Gregory Bolusan (seen in 2015, left, and in his recent mug shot, right) stands accused of robbing the M Casino in Las Vegas on three separate occasions. The motive is unknown. (Image: Facebook and Henderson, NV PD)

Bolusan, who was listed as the senior pastor at Grace Bible Church on Monday on the place of worship’s Facebook page (which has since been taken down), allegedly robbed the M’s cashier cage not once, but three separate times, since last August, netting $63,000.

The charges against the pastor, whose church is situated at the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Nevada in Southern Highlands, include three counts of burglary, one count of attempted robbery, and two counts of robbery. No arraignment date has been announced yet, and a check of records at the Henderson Detention Center, where Bolusan was originally booked, does not indicate he is being housed there at this time.

The pastor apparently had a “do as I say, not as I do” religious outlook.

“He has a heart to raise leaders in the next generation of young people,” Bolusan’s church website bio said before the site shut down. “Pastor Greg believes that the city of Las Vegas, also known as the city of sin, needs people who will take time to build authentic relationships winning the lost into a relationship with Jesus.”

The evangelical church, which also has a chapter in Hawaii, had shut down its Facebook page and Twitter accounts by Tuesday morning. Several media outlets tried to contact the church, but calls were not returned.

Thou Shalt Not Steal?

Bolusan allegedly broke the Eighth Commandment on Aug. 24, Sept. 10, and again on Oct. 28. The first attempt was not successful. He went up to the casino cage at 3:54 a.m. brandishing what turned out to be a nonfunctional handgun and demanded money. He walked away empty-handed when the employee he faced ran away during the stick up.

He was more successful on his next visit, walking in on Sunday Sept. 10 at 5:33 a.m., when he once more approached an employee at the cage. He flashed the firearm and was able to flee with $29,589. It is not known whether he presided over either of his church’s two listed Sunday services later that day.

The third time was not the charm. Bolusan came into the M on Oct. 28 and security recognized him this time from his earlier visits. He got $33,480, but didn’t make it out of the gaming venue, as he was detained until police arrived.

Not His Calling

Hotel security was able to identify Bolusan because of a series of blunders the pastor committed. The first was parking his white 2010 Toyota Camry in the identical parking space at an M lot on each of his three visits. He did manage to conceal his license plate with opaque plastic bags, however.

His clothes were also the same the first two times, and for all three robberies, he used the same backpack and gun, which later was determined to be fake.

When Bolusan walked through the same doors on Oct. 28 that he had twice before, security spotted him on surveillance cameras and were able to intercept him before he left the building.

The three robberies followed two previous ones at the upscale resort in the last three years. In January 2015, two men held up the sportsbook and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. They were later caught in New York State at the Canadian border. Another man pointed a weapon at a casino cage employee in September of the same year and then fled in a Ford Mustang. It’s unknown if he was ever apprehended.

A motive for the three alleged Bolusan robberies is not known at this time.