The valet stand at the Golden Pelican, where the crew's sedan was parked for six minutes.Photo: Lena Ortiz / Wazel News
A four-person crew that emptied the cashier cage at the Golden Pelican Casino on Thursday night paused on the way out to tip the valet $40,000, police confirmed, making him the only person at the casino to come out ahead.
The valet, Teo Marsh, 24, said the crew's sedan had been parked for "six minutes, tops" and that the driver handed him a bag with the words "sorry about the wait." He said he assumed it was a tip in the normal range until he got home and "needed a second table."
A clean job, mostly
Casino security says the crew entered through the staff entrance at 10:50 p.m., dressed as a plumbing team, and left through the front door at 11:04 p.m., dressed as a plumbing team that had done very well. The cage was emptied without a single alarm, which the casino attributes to "an unusually quiet plumbing team" and the police attribute to the alarm being switched off.
Nobody was hurt. One slot machine was knocked over on the way out and, in a detail that has delighted the Money desk, paid out as it fell.
"They were the nicest people I've parked for all year. I'd park for them again. I probably shouldn't say that."
— Teo Marsh, valet
The sedan, as described by the valet: 'grey, polite, very low to the ground.'
The valet's position
Police have interviewed Marsh twice and returned his bag once. He has been told the $40,000 is evidence, then told it is proceeds of crime, then told it is "a grey area," which is also how he describes the sedan.
His employer, the Golden Pelican, has said the tip "belongs to the house" under a policy nobody at the casino can locate. Marsh's union has pointed out that the house also claimed it was not responsible for the plumbing team, and would like the house to pick one.
What happens now
Detectives are reviewing footage from the valet stand, which shows the crew's sedan from four angles and the crew from none. They have released a description of the driver: "medium height, good manners."
Marsh has been placed on paid leave and says he intends to use the time to "take the bag on a walk." He has asked Wazel News to tell the crew, if they are reading, that he kept the receipt for the second table and would return it if they want it. He did not say whether he meant the table or the money.
The Golden Pelican reopened on Friday morning with a sign on the cage reading "Plumbers please use rear entrance."