Montgomery AL Aug 19 2018 A federal judge on Friday dismissed charges against one person and denied bond to a second accused of robbing nearly $200,000 in cash from the Wind Creek Montgomery casino last week.
Jory D'Michael Travunn Dumas and Timothy Dean Pettiway were arrested Tuesday after allegedly stealing the cash from two machines they accessed with keys an employee left atop a kiosk on Aug. 10. The case is being adjudicated in federal court as the theft occurred on Indian lands.
Dumas, Pettiway's nephew and a former Wind Creek casino employee who investigators say was fired for theft last year, was dismissed from the case Friday.
Investigators said the initial probe last week had incorrectly identified him as the one who picked up the keys from the kiosk. An FBI review of Wind Creek's security footage found that Pettiway took the keys.
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden on Friday advised Dumas that though his charge had been dismissed, the prosecution could still present charges against him to a future grand jury.
The U.S. Attorney's Office offered video surveillance footage from multiple casino cameras to establish probable cause against Pettiway.
FBI Special Agent Matthew Minshew testified Friday that casino employee Courtney Stanton, a kiosk attendant, checked out keys to kiosks 8 and 19.
In the security footage, Stanton accesses kiosk 19, and appears to speak to someone off-camera for some time. She then walks away from the kiosk, leaving her keys on top of the machine.
In court, Minshew identified a man as Pettiway retrieving the keys. Minshew testified Pettiway was wearing black clothes, similar to the uniform kiosk attendants wear.
Footage in court Friday showed a man alleged to be Pettiway taking one cash box from kiosk 19. While the kiosk houses multiple cash boxes with bills of different denominations, court testimony revealed, Pettiway allegedly removed the box of $100 bills.
Pettiway then took the box into a restroom Dumas was known to be in. Pettiway later exited, walked to kiosk 8, and repeated the procedure.
Pettiway was filmed exiting the casino shortly after, less than 15 minutes after Stanton initially accessed the kiosk, according to security footage.
Around the same time, another casino employee noticed machine 8 wasn't working properly. Stanton told tribal police she reported her keys missing to her supervisor and notified security. Casino security entered the restroom to find empty cash boxes in the handicapped stall from machines 8 and 19.
The casino declined to make a statement and directed questions to FBI investigators.
Cecilia Vaca, Pettiway's attorney, argued in court Friday that charging Pettiway over Dumas amounted to a "coin flip."
"Mr. Dumas worked at the casino, Mr. Dumas was fired from the casino for theft, and Mr. Dumas was intimately familiar with how the machines worked," Vaca said.
A number of Pettiway's family attended the hearing and his girlfriend, Natasha Walker, testified to his responsibility for a 9-year-old son and two nephews who live full-time with Pettiway.
"It's not often you have so many family members here," Vaca said in arguing for bond. "He has a 9-year-old son, he has a responsibility to care for him, and he's not going to flee the jurisdiction."
But Borden found Pettiway's "substantial" criminal history, spanning decades, and the fact that the heist money has not been found to be compelling cause to deny bond.
"The cash has not been recovered. A person with access to that much cash would have a reasonable opportunity to flee," Borden said.
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians Nation on Friday declined to make a statement about the heist, and referred questions to the FBI.
Montgomery Advertiser
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Breaking News: Two charged in $200,000 robbery at Wind Creek Montgomery casino privateofficer.org - News Paper
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