Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced the arrests of Brandyn Warren and Antoine Laster for their involvement in the robbery of 25 Pennsylvania Skill gaming machines in gas stations and 7-Elevens in the Philadelphia area, including Bucks and Montgomery counties.
While executing search warrants, agents from the Office of Attorney General’s Gaming Division seized five firearms, an ATM machine, and cash.
“These men conspired together to steal over $100,000, which they used to purchase numerous firearms,” said Shapiro. “My office will not tolerate this kind of blatant theft and violence, and will hold these defendants accountable for their crimes.”
The six-month investigation, conducted by the Office of Attorney General, revealed that in each robbery Philadelphia residents Warren and Laster and their co-conspirators utilized the same common scheme to steal from the gaming machines, the Attorney General’s office said.
They entered the gas station or convenience store during business hours wearing masks, hoods and gloves, and proceeded to use sledgehammers, pry bars, and other tools to break open the machines and steal the cash that was inside, the AGs office added. The robberies resulted in a loss of over $125,000, and damage in excess of $114,000.
The Office of Attorney General’s Gaming Division was assisted in this investigation by the Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force unit, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Springfield Township Police Department, the Hilltown Township Police Department, the Lansdale Police Department, the Upper Dublin Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco.
The gaming machines, found in gas stations and convenience stores across the Commonwealth, are similar to gambling machines and offer users a chance to win cash prizes while playing. Each machine contains cash boxes within, and some locations also have redemption machines that dispense cash to winners. The legality of these machines is currently being litigated in two cases pending before the Commonwealth Court.
Warren was charged with one count of corrupt organizations, 14 counts of robbery, 14 counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, 13 counts of possession of an instrument of crime, 13 counts of theft, 14 counts of simple assault, 14 counts of conspiracy to commit theft, one count of attempted theft, 14 counts of conspiracy to commit simple assault, one count of theft, and one count of conspiracy to commit theft.
Laster faces one count of corrupt organizations, eight counts of robbery, eight counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, eight counts of possession of an instrument of crime, seven counts of theft, seven counts of simple assault, eight counts of conspiracy to commit theft, seven counts of conspiracy to commit simple assault, one count of theft, one count of conspiracy to commit theft, one count of attempted robbery, and two counts of attempted theft.
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