Las Vegas couple, John and Lydia Salmen, are accused of robbing the Primm Valley Resort casino cage on July 18, 2024. Casino robberies are nothing new. However, this story shows that a combined lack of planning between the perpetrators and the casino made this one of the crazier stories in recent memory.
Primm is a border casino town about 40 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip on the state line between Nevada and California. It is only accessible by Interstate 15. No other roads lead to it. The highway exit includes three casinos, several gas stations, fast food options, a mostly abandoned mall, and a lottery store. The lotto store is in California since the games are prohibited in Nevada.
Key Highlights
- Thieves steal over half a million from Nevada casino
- Police arrested a husband and wife duo
- Most of the stolen cash and chips recovered
- Casino claims incident didn’t affect customers
Primm Valley Resort Robbery Details
How the robbery played out leaves more questions than answers. Let’s start with what the police say happened.
On July 18, 2024, police say John Salmen and his wife, Lydia Salmen, entered Primm Valley Resort. Lydia Salmen allegedly crawled into the cage via an opening meant to handle customer transactions, which has not been operational since 2022, based on our several visits there since then. All table games were removed from Primm Valley Resort’s casino floor in December 2022, when Buffalo Bill’s reopened. Based on our observations, all Primm Valley transactions are handled by kiosks now.
Police say she spent about an hour inside the cage undetected. The robbery was not discovered until an employee noticed drawers open and coins on the cage floor. According to the report, Lydia Salmen was already gone.
Apparently, the Salmens drove their personal car to Primm for the crime. According to 8 News Now1, police were familiar with the couple and had previously interacted with them on the property. The heist totaled $650,000 in cash and $27,000 in table game chips.
Due to the resort’s robust security protocols and collaboration with the LVMPD, the incident did not impact any guests or team members.
Primm Valley spokesperson in a statement to 8 News Now
A Mountain of Terrible Decisions Preceded the Cage Heist
The most obvious terrible decision related to the robbery was thinking this was a great idea to begin with. There are only two ways out of Primm, and it is over 10 miles to the closest exit in either direction on the highway. Getting detected guarantees police intervention.
It took significant confidence to remain in a casino cage for an hour. Stealing less money, closing drawers, and not throwing coins around could have all reduced the chances of detection and apprehension or added to the time before discovery. Driving your car seems like a bad idea, too. Someone with $650,000 might not want to stay in the same county where the crime was committed, but that seems to be what happened. Police recovered all but $300 of the $650,000 in cash.
Why does a casino that is a small step above being closed and does not have a functioning cage need $650,000 in cash stored in it?
Heist on the Same Day as Crowdstrike Outage
Primm Valley Resort could have done several things to make the property more secure. The date was the same as the Crowdstrike failure. It is possible that this contributed to the opportunity for the casino cage burglars, but stories about it do not cover that possibility.
If the systems were down –as they were at some other casinos in Clark County– more security was needed to ensure property safety, or the doors could have been locked. Leaving a casino cage with unlocked money and nobody watching it during a possible technology malfunction with at least $650,000 lying around was a failure in security operations.
Also, why does a casino that is a small step above being closed and does not have a functioning cage need $650,000 in cash stored in it?
I suspect the company learned some lessons here, like securing closed casino cages and locking cash up when unattended. They are lucky to only be out $300.
Primm Valley is Practically a Ghost Casino
There were zero customers in our last three visits to Primm Valley Resort. The employee we saw was a lone slot attendant. This person hid from us during all visits as we walked Primm Valley’s vacant casino floor. I wondered how secure the property was when this was always our experience.
Primm Valley closed all table games when Buffalo Bill’s reopened in December 2022. Shortly after that, the tables disappeared from the floor, and the alleged thieves stole $27,000 in casino chips.
Buffalo Bill’s is the only Primm casino with live table games today. The $27,000 in casino chips were useless and only created incriminating evidence. Buffalo Bill’s has its own branded chips. Any attempt to cash in the Primm Valley chips would have raised immediate suspicion unless the alleged thieves got Buffalo Bill’s chips, which leads to the question of why they would be in Primm Valley’s closed cage.
Affinity Gaming operates Primm. I suspect the company learned some lessons here, like securing closed casino cages and locking cash up when unattended. They are lucky to only be out $300.
Pictures of Recent Visits to Primm Valley
*All pictures courtesy of John and Kristina Mehaffey
Primm Valley Resort Video
If you are unfamiliar with Primm Valley Resort, popular YouTuber Penny4Vegas took a tour of it in 2023. The cage appears around the 2:35 mark. It is in the rear of the casino, where the casino floor is nearly empty.2
Sources
1 https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/las-vegas-police-arrest-2-in-450k-casino-cage-robbery/
2 Penny4Vegas Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjSnSp2t_ic
