There are never enough interesting and curious cases, so here we have this one for you, which was brought recently by several foreign poker and non-poker websites. In this case, it is not a huge amount, but that does not detract from the curiosity.

The unnamed professional poker player was returning home from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles on January 2, 2020, where he said he took 15 chips, each worth $100. Moments after he set off on the road with his car, he was stopped by a police vehicle due to expired registration plates.

The officer searched the car for a weapons, so he put him in the back seat of his police SUV and searched the vehicle. After finding nothing illegal, he let the player go with just a warning. Moments later, the player checked his bag and found that he was missing $500 in chips.

He immediately called the sheriff's office and reported the theft. All three police officers who patrolled the casino area that night denied stopping any vehicles. However, security cameras recorded a police SUV that stopped the car, and the only person driving the SUV that night was a police officer named Braulio Robledo.

In the past, this police officer has already been identified as a member of a secret police gang called "Banditos" in two lawsuits. After the player reported the theft, he suddenly stopped cooperating with the police and investigators. He said that continuing to cooperate would put his life at risk, and he fears retaliation from the police gang.

The investigators tried to contact him several times and investigate the case. They also had CCTV footage from nearby buildings, but lacked witness statements, and since the main witness to the incident was the robbed player, they had nothing. Officer Robledo was placed on administrative leave following the incident and is still subject to an internal investigation, according to an LASD spokesperson.

However, already in 2018, he was accused of beating younger police officers after a police party at the station. He was supposed to do it as a member of the mentioned "Banditos" gang. Two police officers were then beaten unconscious, and Robledo himself was charged with aiding and abetting the violence. However, Robledo was also investigated in 2019, when three women accused him of sexual harassment. That's still not all, in 2021 he was charged with alleged racial discrimination and again described as a gang member.

In the end, he doesn't even get charged in the case of the theft of chips, because there are no witnesses and statements. There was also a contradiction in the claim of the injured party and the footage from the cameras in the casino. It was discovered that the poker pro did not take 15 chips worth $100 as he claimed, but 13 chips and additional cash. The investigation report states that Robledo was able to take a combination of chips and cash totaling $500 from the bag.

The document also mentions the possibility that the player miscalculated his chips and how much money he had with him just when leaving the casino. After these discrepancies and after the victim's refusal to cooperate with the investigation, the district attorney's office does not think that it could in any way succeed with the case in court and prove the policeman's guilt. This probably concludes the whole incident.

Source: LA Times, Pokernews, Casino.org, istock