Robbers net $694K from ATM guards in downtown Las Vegas

Looking through the van for the first cash bag of the day, security guard Matthew Allen heard a voice behind him say: "Give me the money."

He thought it was a joke — probably a worker arriving at the downtown Las Vegas credit union as Allen and a new co-worker, Sergio Rangel, started their day stocking ATMs.

Then Allen looked up and saw Rangel had his hands up. Allen turned and saw a masked man pointing a gun.

"Give me the money," he said again.

Two robbers stole Allen's gun and made off with $694,000 in the daylight stickup April 20, according to a police report. That was just over half the $1.3 million the security guards had in their van.

DNA on a surgical mask dropped at the scene by one of the robbers matched Clinton Morgan, a 29-year-old Las Vegas man with a criminal history in California and Nevada, according to the police report.

Morgan was arrested July 15 and indicted by a grand jury this week on six counts, including robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery. A judge set bail Friday at $250,000.

No one else has been arrested, prosecutor Sonia Jimenez said. The police report says Metro and the FBI are still investigating and suspect other people knew about or helped plan the robbery.

Jimenez said it's unusual, though not unheard of, for robbers to get away with so much money at one time. Four guns and more than $110,000 cash were found when police searched Morgan's home, according to the report.

Morgan's lawyer, Kyle Cottner of the public defender's office, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

The morning of the robbery started when Allen and Rangel, who work for Sectran Security, picked up bags of money at a company office. They left about 7 a.m., got gas, then headed to a One Nevada Credit Union branch at Maryland Parkway and Bonanza Road.

Allen parked the van, and the two guards got out and started talking about which ATM to service first. That's when Rangel saw a man running toward them pointing a gun.

Rangel told police he immediately put up his hands and told the gunman, "I only make 11 bucks an hour. Take it."

Rangel, who had only started the job a few weeks before, was unarmed since he was still in training. Allen had been robbed two months before, and he and Rangel had agreed they would not risk their lives for money, Rangel told police.

One robber took Allen's gun out of its holster and his personal cell phone from his pocket, then called his accomplice over. The two men each grabbed three or four white plastic money bags and ran off. A witness saw them driving away in a Ford Taurus with no license plates.

The police report says cell tower records obtained by the FBI showed Morgan's phone was on a tower near the credit union right after the robbery — the only day in a four-month period checked that the phone was on that tower.

Questioned after his July arrest by a Metro detective and an FBI agent, Morgan first denied knowing anything about the robbery and said the cash was from selling marijuana, according to the police report.

But after detectives confronted him, the report says, he became emotional and admitted being a "lookout."

According to the report, Morgan told investigators a man to whom he'd sold drugs recruited him into the robbery, which the man called an "inside job."

Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley