Montego Bay Bandit Anthony Matthew Vera was captured near Tucson, Arizona late Thursday afternoon.
“The West Wendover Police Department, in a collaborated effort, with the United States Marshalls Office, Northern Utah J.C.A.T Team, State of Utah Department of Public Safety, State Bureau of Investigation Division, and the Tucson Arizona Police Department, located, and took Anthony Matthew Vera, into custody without incident in the Tucson Arizona area late in the afternoon of March 13th, 2014. ” wrote West Wendover Police Chief Burdel Welsh in a press release.
The Vera along with Elbert Woodson pulled off a brazen robbery of the Montego Bay Casino four weeks ago.
According to West Wendover Police reports Anthony Vera wearing either face paint or a mask approached the Montego Bay’s cashier’s cage two weeks ago Wednesday, jumped the counter, grabbed a cash box and fled the casino with an undetermined amount of cash. It is unknown whether Vera was armed at the time.
It is unknown just how much money Vera made away with although the sum is probably larger perhaps much larger the the “greater than $650” amount originally released by law enforcement. The $650 mark permits the theft to be charged as a felony.
According to sources close to the investigation the robbery may have been an inside job. The photo used by police in their wanted poster comes from the files of casino workers and that Vera’s identity was provided from an unnamed source who was either involved in the crime or who had knowledge of it. That source was later identified as a woman who for unknown reasons was traveling in the get away vehicle and was allowed to leave shortly after the chase began around the Grantsville exit by the UHP.
Elbert Woodson the wheelman in the Montego Bay caper is now in the Elko County Jail on a $45,000 bail bond.
Woodson had been held at the Tooele county Jail in Utah until he was extradited back to Nevada Friday which incidentally was also his birthday.
Woodson was captured within hours of the crime after a high speed chase on I-80 and subsequent crash in rural Herriman, Utah.
“The suspect vehicle continued toward the Salt Lake Valley and one person exited the vehicle near Bangerter Highway, south of Salt Lake City International Airport. The person exiting was later identified as an adult female.” Welsh wrote in press release last week. “She was later interviewed by, investigators from the West Wendover Police Department, and the State of Utah Department of Public Safety and the State Bureau of Investigation Division. The female’s identity is being withheld, pending prosecutor’s review of the case. The female is currently listed a as witness. Ongoing investigation may determine if she was a party to the criminal activity.”
The fact that the woman has not yet been charged coupled with the information that federal law enforcement has been called in on the case could indicate that in addition to the robbery charges facing Vera and Woodson there may be an additional charge of kidnapping.
Kidnapping across state lines is a federal crime with a possible penalty of life in prison. While it is still unclear of the woman’s role in the robbery the threat of a life term could be used to elicit information from Woodson.