The Henderson Police believe they have arrested the second of the two robbers who made off with poker-pro Chad Power's home safe.
According to 8News Now, Trevaghn Battle is being charged with "home invasion with a deadly weapon, burglary in possession of a firearm or deadly weapon, theft greater than $100,000, owning a gun by a prohibited person and conspiracy home invasion, documents from the Henderson Police Department stated."
These charges are related to the robbery of February 10, 2021. On this date Battle and his accomplice — Brock Brewer, who is already in custody — allegedly kicked in Power's back door and made off with his safe through the front.
The safe is supposed to have contained between $900k and $1.1 million in a mix of cash bricks and casino chips.
Arrest, the first
Heists have been very much in the poker consciousness this last year. Zack Snyder's latest flick combined the Vegas-heist genre with zombies to create a full-on high-octane action flick. Meanwhile, in Korea, the hunt is still on for the masterminds behind the enormous real-life Jeju casino heist.
Power was able to watch his own small-scale version of Army of the Dead (minus the zombies) take place on the small screen of his phone.
His home security system sent him an alert and broadcast the live footage from his front door camera to his phone. Unfortunately for the thieves, the hard work of lugging a safe around had them hot and bothered. They pulled down the medical masks which would otherwise have disguised their faces. As a result, the police have a high degree of confidence that they've got the right guys.
Battle's associate, Brock Brewer, fell afoul of the police back in May, 2021. The net closed in from a number of angles.
Anonymous tips, called in to Power himself, fingered Brewer for one of the thieves.
The police also suspected that Power had been followed home from a winning gambling session. The thieves then waited for him to leave before making their move. The police ran down their list of crimes who had used this M.O. before. Brewer's name came up.
At the time Brewer got nicked, he was charged with "home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, burglary, theft of more than $100,000, and possession of a gun by a prohibited person," according to News3 Las Vegas.
Brewer was let out on house arrest but ended up back in jail after failing to abide by the rules of his release. He has been sitting in jail since. According to the 8News report, Brewer turned snitch. In "a jail phone call after his arrest," he supplied a description of his accomplice and identified Battle.
Arrest, the second
Battle has a number of other charges pending against him. They're the kind of charges that might make Power happy that he wasn't home at the time of the break-in. These charges include conspiracy sexual assault, sexual assault, and sex trafficking of an adult. These were the initial charges on which he was arrested. Once in custody, the Henderson robbery charges were flagged up, and Battle will face trial for the whole extensive rap sheet.
Bringing Battle in strengthens the case against Brewer too. With Battle's phone in the evidence store, police were able to run its GPS. Sure enough, both it and Brewer's cell phone were at Power's house on the day of the robbery.
The two men were in close communication that day.
Coupled with the security footage, Brewer's recent purchase of several pricey cars, testimony from the tipsters, and the pair's priors, the case looks pretty good against them.
As yet, it does not appear that Power has had his chips or money returned. It is unlikely that he will be able to recover the full amount in any case.
Featured image source: Flickr by Rob Pongsajapan
