The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has provided Pokernews with a police report from the money theft investigation. If you don't know what's going on, we've attached our last article to give you more insight into the case.
Let's go straight to the new information we have. Poker pro Anthony Zinno was charged with petty theft and released on December 19. However, he has not been charged with a crime, and we don't currently know if charges will be filed against him. After remaining silent, Zinno finally commented on the situation on his Twitter account:
I'd like to share some thoughts, and I'll provide all details after the legal matter finishes:
- Anthony Zinno (@AntZinno) February 8, 2024
We had all made it into the money, which ended the day. The ballroom was shut down for the night. I stood up to leave and then noticed a lost bag close by. My first instinct (it was a...
According to Theuma's statement, he left the tournament room on Dec. 18 after wrapping up his chips and then headed out of the casino to get a cab. That's when he realized he had forgotten his bag, which he had placed under his seat while playing poker. He then rushed back into the building to retrieve it, as he claimed he had $20,000 cash in it. He did not recover the bag until the next day, when he discovered that it was missing $19,000.
The police report does not match these claims
However, this claim differs from the police report, which states that he told investigators after leaving the lobby that, "he had to go to the restroom and had to leave his bag and money there."
"I never said that," Theuma told PokerNews regarding the discrepancies in the police report before repeating his original statement. According to the official report, a police officer made contact with security at Encore's lost and found department on December 19, 2023, and was informed that Zinno had returned the backpack to the casino. "Security recognized the subject by his footage of Zinno taking the backpack," the officer wrote.
The report further states that after Theuma began to leave the tournament room, he left his bag under the seat. Zinno later approached her and took the bag. However, it does not specify what time period elapsed between the two incidents. "Zinno quickly walked past several security guards and exited the casino into a taxi," the report says.
However, Theuma doesn't understand why the report to PokerNews didn't mention the information that Zinno left with the bag to use the restroom before he left the casino.
The report also mentions that a police officer asked Theuma if he could prove that there was indeed $20,000 in the bag. Theuma could not prove this information.
Zinno confirmed that he did take the bag, but denied taking any money from it. "Zinno stated that he took the bag and wanted to return it on his own without the help of security or the police. He further stated that he only opened the bag to check his identity, he noticed an unknown amount of money in the bag but did not touch it. The bag was returned with $1,000 cash. Zinno stated that when he left the casino, he went to the Cosmopolitan where he thought about returning the bag," according to LVMPD.
Zinno attempted to contact Theum via direct message at 3:01 a.m. after the alleged incident. However, the content of those messages is unknown because they were deleted before the recipient could view them.
Source - Pokernews, LVMPD, Twitter/X, Facebook
