In the midnight hour of January 10th, a black male robbed a cashier at the New York-New York casino in Las Vegas. On January 25th, Cameron Kennedy, a white male, was arrested for the crime. Did the police nab the wrong guy? Nope, it was Kennedy, alright, just in disguise.
After the incident, the Las Vegas police said that a black male wearing a black beanie cap, black rimmed glasses, a black hooded jacket, black mechanics gloves, dark jeans, and black shoes showed the cashier a handgun that was tucked into his waistband, and demanded money. Cash was handed over without violence and the perpetrator escaped through the south entrance of the casino, leaving the area in a taxi.
Cameron Kennedy in black face
The Las Vegas Review-Journal provided more detail this week, reporting that the man said to the cashier, “I want all your hundreds, and don’t mess around.”
And while the police press release showed a picture of what appeared to be a black man, it was really Kennedy, a white man, disguised in black face. In the pictures and security video, it’s a pretty convincing makeup job, but the cashier was skeptical, telling police that his skin tone looked “blotchy” and “off.”
More clues came in, as someone anonymously informed investigators that it was Kennedy that robbed New York-New York. A month later, someone else told police that Kennedy had gone to his apartment just hours after the heist and that his skin looked darker than normal, like one might look after initially wiping off Halloween makeup, before being able to do a more thorough cleaning.
Phone records also placed Kennedy near where the taxi dropped off the suspect after the crime. And not suspicious at all, Kennedy bought a $1,500 gold bracelet (come on, man), $1,800 in money orders, and a $1,000 prepaid debit card (at least he put the latter in someone else’s name).
Kennedy was no rookie to breaking the law. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to two bank robberies and was put in prison. He was release in June 2017, but was arrested again in December for trying to cash a bogus check at the Gold Coast casino. Kennedy was under federal supervision, but cut off his monitoring bracelet so he would be free to commit the crime. It was not reported when and if law enforcement officials were aware that he was no longer being tracked.
Kennedy faces up to 20 years in prison. One would guess that he will be seeing at least some time behind bars, as the case seems pretty cut and dry at this point.