Deputies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, arrested a man Friday on suspicion of a failed robbery attempt at the parking garage of L’Auberge Casino Hotel last week, informed local news media outlet BRProud.
YouTube Prank or Failed Armed Robbery
The suspect, who was identified as Christopher Thomas Jr., 21, of Baton Rouge, was detained on charges of attempted armed robbery, resisting an officer, flight from an officer, and obstruction of justice.
Thomas was found on the first floor of the parking garage by a deputy who responded to a call from the casino hotel after a man complained that another man wearing a white hoodie tried to rob him at gunpoint at the casino parking lot. In the end, the attacker told his alleged victim that it was all a “YouTube prank.”
According to the arrest warrant, the suspect then fled on foot and locked himself inside a Honda Accord. When the deputy brandished his handgun and pointed it at the man inside the vehicle, he fled with the vehicle.
According to the investigation, the weapon of the attempted armed robbery was a BB gun. There were no injuries reported.
Hunting Ground for Robbers
Around the same time last year a similar incident took place at the same casino when on November 22, deputies with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office were called after an 80-year-old man had reported that on his way out of the casino, in the vestibule area, had felt someone tugging on one of his back pockets, and when turning around had seen a man trying to take his wallet.
After a short fight between the two, the robber had to run away with empty hands but the man who was attacked had his heart condition aggravated. He had to attend to the pain in his chest before reporting the failed robbery attempt to the deputies, who later used eyewitness accounts and security footage from the casino to identify the attacker, 29-year-old Jakyre Foreman, and apprehended him.
Also in November, almost 6 years ago, L’Auberge Casino Hotel became the scene of another robbery after a casino patron reported to have been kidnapped and robbed in the elevator on his way back from the casino to his hotel room.
Following information received from an anonymous tipster, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office arrested 32-year-old Baton Rouge resident Matthew Johnson Jr. and later charged him with armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping.