Four charged in casino robbery
Four young Flathead Valley residents have been charged with felonies related to a Nov. 20 casino robbery, a heist that involved boyfriends and girlfriends, a brother and sister and a woman who worked at the casino.
Darren Hayes, a 19-year-old Bigfork resident, and Darah Hughes, 22, of Kalispell, were charged with felony accountability to theft, and Bigfork resident Katelynne Hayes, 18, was charged with felony theft. All three were arrested Dec. 23 and remained on the Flathead County jail roster Monday.
A fourth person, Dustin Payne, 16, has since been arrested for being involved with the robbery and will be prosecuted in juvenile court.
According to charging documents filed in Flathead County District Court on Monday, Darren Hayes and his sister, Katelynne Hayes, hatched the idea of robbing the Glacier Gold Casino, located in the Osprey Business Court in Columbia Falls.
Darah Hughes worked at the casino at the time of the Nov. 20 robbery, and happened to be Darren Hayes’ girlfriend. Hughes initially was regarded as a victim in the case.
According to court documents, 911 dispatch received a panic alarm from the casino at around 5 p.m. Responding officers spoke with Hughes, who told them she could not identify the gender of the suspect, who entered the casino and “did not present a weapon but had an object like a pistol in the sweatshirt pocket.”
She told officers that the suspect spoke to her in a whisper and led her to a back room where safes were located. The suspect left with about $4,800.
Investigators noted that a surveillance camera captured the image of a white Chevrolet pickup truck outside the casino at the time of the robbery, and that became the main lead in the case, along with Flathead County Sheriff’s detectives suspecting discrepancies in Hughes’ accounts of the robbery.
The break in the case apparently came on Dec. 20, when casino owner Greg Bauska told investigators that he had heard that Dustin Payne and his girlfriend, Katelynne Hayes, were involved.
Detectives determined that Payne drove a pickup truck matching the description of the truck captured on tape.
In a subsequent interview with a detective, “Payne began to cry and stated he had driven his truck to the casino and Katelynne Hayes had done the robbery/theft and Payne drove them away,” court documents state.
Payne also said in the interview that the money was split evenly between himself, Katelynne Hayes, Darren Hayes and Darah Hughes.
In a follow-up interview with Katelynne Hayes, she stated “that she and her brother, Darren Hayes, planned the theft and that she went into the casino with a BB gun and staged the robbery,” court records state. “Darren Hayes called Darah about the robbery prior to the event and informed her it would take place sometime on Nov. 20.”
The potential penalties for the felony charges are imprisonment up to 10 years and a maximum fine of up to $50,000, along with paying restitution.
The defendants have yet to enter pleas in court.
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.