Attorney: Video shows Rio casino robbery suspect was at the Palms

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 | 11:11 a.m.

The attorney for Edward Hua Land says he's trying to get a video he says will show the Rio robbery suspect was in a different casino on Feb. 24 at the time of the heist.

Land's attorney, Louis Schneider, said that's one of the reasons he agreed with prosecutors to continue Tuesday's scheduled preliminary hearing until April for Land, a local real estate executive, and Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, a 61-year-old cab driver also arrested in connection with the Rio robbery.

Schneider has claimed that while Land realized there was something going on, he did not take any part in the robbery.

"I am in the process of trying to obtain video from the Palms casino that shows my client at the Palms at the time of the robbery," Schneider said outside the courtroom.

Although the Palms has destroyed that surveillance video, police might have made a copy, Schneider said.

Authorities are still looking for 45-year-old Steven Gao, who they say was the man who went into the Rio's casino and committed the armed robbery.

Police say Land has admitted to police that he dropped Gao off at the Rio. Police say Gao then walked into the casino wearing a fedora hat, a wig, a fake mustache and sunglasses, stole $33,200 in chips and left in Yamaguchi's taxi.

According to a police report, Land told police that Gao owed him $15,000 and robbed the casino to pay back the debt.

Land, who is out of custody on $125,000 bail, did not appear at Tuesday morning's hearing because of the expected delay, Schneider told Judge Deborah Lippis.

Jeremy Storms, Yamaguchi's public defender, told the judge he wanted to delay the hearing because there is still a recorded statement that he has not yet received that Yamaguchi gave to Metro Police in Japanese that was transcribed to English.

Storms said there were also some recordings of conversations in a car that he wants to obtain so he can listen to them.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Susan Roger told the judge that because of the amount of evidence and police reports still trying to be obtained by the defense attorneys, that she agreed to the continuance.

Roger told the judge that prosecutors would call about eight to 10 witnesses during the preliminary hearing.

Lippis reset the hearing to 10 a.m. April 26 in Las Vegas Justice Court and said she would set aside the entire afternoon for testimony.

Schneider has told Lippis that Land had nothing to do with the robbery and that he was merely an acquaintance of Gao.

And he said Tuesday he was hoping the surveillance video at the Palms would help make that clear.

Schneider said that, according to the Palms, they can destroy their surveillance video after 10 days. However, because of the length of time it took for him to be retained as Land's attorney, then getting a subpoena out for the video, he missed that 10-day window by two days.

"They claim to have destroyed it. I'm hoping Metro got the video because my client told Metro that he was in or at the Palms at the time of the robbery. I don't exactly know what he was doing but I do know that we can confirm that his car was at the Palms in the parking lot. There is video of him in the parking lot," Schneider said. "We have an aerial photograph, marked with the spots. I subpoenaed it from the Palms."

Schneider said he got a letter back from the Palms saying the video had been destroyed.

"That's a problem. And since my client (Land) told Metro he was at the Palms, if they have it, I'd like to see it," Schneider said. "And if he was not at the Rio at the time of the robbery, that's something I think we should know."

According to police, Gao entered the casino and went to a Pai Gow poker table and began taking chips from the dealer and putting them in a black shoulder bag.

After the dealer hit Gao's hand, Gao allegedly took out a gun, police said. Police said Gao finished the robbery, then left the Rio in a taxi driven by Yamaguchi, who police said also knew of Gao's robbery plans.

After the robbery, Gao and Yamaguchi went to the Terrible's hotel-casino at Flamingo and Paradise roads, where they met Land, police said.

Police said Yamaguchi later confessed his alleged role in the robbery. Police said they recovered $1,000 in casino chips and an unloaded handgun in Yamaguchi's cab.

Authorities also said they also recovered $17,000 worth of chips, a wig and a black bag from Land's home. They said the chips were buried in Land's back yard.

Schneider has said Land realized something was going on, but wasn't part of it and had left the vicinity. He said that the stolen chips were buried in Land's backyard while Land was taking a shower in his home.