Highway Patrol Casino Robbery Update

Returning to the scene of the alleged crime results in one of the two suspects accused of robbing the Isle of Capri Casino at gunpoint landing in the Cooper County Jail.

The highway patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control says 21-year-old Benjamin Michael-Dass Charles of Columbia, who had been an employee at the casino, was taken into custody the next day after reporting to work.

Charles in formally charged with first-degree robbery and assault, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. He’s being held on a $1.3 million bond…the same amount taken during the robbery.

As of Saturday a second suspect, identified as 20-year-old Hollis Vanleer Junior of Normal, Illinois, remained at large. He was described as a 6’1” black male weighing about 280 pounds and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on Vanleer’s location should call the highway patrol or local law enforcement.