Confidential informant to testify at Bellagio robbery hearing

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 | 9:48 a.m.

A confidential informant — a "doctor"— will testify later this month at the preliminary hearing for Anthony Carleo, accused of being the alleged "biker bandit" who robbed the Bellagio hotel-casino of about $1.4 million in casino chips in December.

Carleo's attorney, William Terry, told a Las Vegas judge this morning that he wants to subpoena the confidential informant and have him testify at the hearing, which was continued this morning and will be reconvened at 10 a.m. March 25.

During Carleo's preliminary hearing on Feb. 23, an undercover police detective brought up the confidential informant during his testimony. The detective said he met Carleo several times through the informant and those meetings led to Carleo selling him several $25,000 casino chips before police moved in to arrest Carleo.

At the Feb. 23 hearing, Terry asked Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens to disclose the name of the informant so he could meet and interview him. Owens initially objected to Terry interviewing the informant. However, Judge Ann Zimmerman told Owens that Terry had the law on his side.

As a result, the preliminary hearing was delayed for today's status check hearing.

At today's short hearing, Terry told Zimmerman that on Monday the district attorney's office gave him a transcript of a recorded conversation between the police undercover detective and the confidential informant.

Terry told the judge he would subpoena the witness, who was described as "a doctor," to testify.

Meanwhile, Carleo, who was at today's hearing wearing a blue jail uniform, is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $1 million bail.

Carleo, who is also known as Anthony Assad, is the 29-year-old son of Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge George Assad.

Carleo initially was charged with robbery with a deadly weapon and burglary with a deadly weapon. The district attorney's office has added charges of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, victim 60 years of age or older; and three more counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon.

According to testimony at the Feb. 23 hearing, a Bellagio valet supervisor and a Bellagio security guard said they saw a man wearing a motorcycle helmet walk into the casino about 3:50 a.m. Dec. 14, 2010.

A 72-year-old craps table supervisor testified that a man wearing a motorcycle helmet and waiving a gun came to one of the craps tables, pushed the dealer out of the way and started digging chips out of the rack and putting them into a pouch.

The helmeted man went after the cranberry-colored $25,000 chips first, then took chips worth varying amounts ranging from $5,000 to $100, the supervisor said.

The security officer and the valet said the helmeted man came running out of the building carrying a gun, ran to his motorcycle drove out to Flamingo Road and headed west.

The undercover police officer testified that he had five meetings with Carleo arranged by an informant from Jan. 28 through Feb. 2 at the Venetian and at the Bellagio.

All together, the officer said he purchased a total of seven $25,000 chips from Carleo in their transactions. After officers arrested Carleo, they also got another seven $25,000 chips, the undercover officer said. Those chips were valued at $350,000, he said.