ST. JOSEPH, Missouri — Two St. Joseph residents have been charged after a cash box holding $151,000 was taken from the St. Jo Frontier Casino on the morning of Sunday, October 25, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol recovered the money in a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 36 within about 24 minutes of the theft being reported, according to the Highway Patrol, local radio station K-Jo 105.5 and NewsNet5 reporting on October 27 and 28.
Source: K-Jo 105.5, St. Joseph (Oct. 28, 2026)
The two people charged are Charles E. Blaisdell, 42, and Heaven L.R. Roberts, 21, both of St. Joseph, Missouri. They are charged, not convicted: each faces one count of receiving stolen property, a Class D felony, and each is being held on $150,000 bond, according to a Highway Patrol statement quoted by Townsquare Media's 979 KICK FM.
K-Jo 105.5 reported that the theft followed a fraudulent call from someone posing as a FedEx representative. The caller allegedly convinced the casino's security supervisor to release the cash by claiming the release had been approved by the general manager. Only when the casino realised the approval was a scam did officials call law enforcement, the station reported.
NewsNet5, describing the same morning, reported that two individuals claimed in person at the casino at around 10:30 a.m. on October 25 that they were authorised by casino management to collect a cash box, and that an employee handed it over. The reports are consistent on the core facts — a false claim of authority, a cash box handed over, and a quick exit — and Awaaz Punjab presents the call and the in-person collection as the two accounts reported, rather than merging details neither source stated together.
Source: NewsNet5 (Oct. 28, 2026)
Flock cameras, a black Jeep Compass and U.S. 36
The capture turned on a camera network, not a chase. According to the Highway Patrol statement quoted by 979 KICK FM, troopers learned what vehicle the suspects were driving, entered it into the Flock license-plate-reader system, and located the vehicle on U.S. 36. NewsNet5 identified the vehicle as a black Jeep Compass. Troopers in the area were notified, the vehicle was stopped, and officers obtained a warrant to search it. Inside, they found more than $150,000 in cash.
The Highway Patrol said Blaisdell and Roberts were arrested by the Macon County Sheriff's Office and placed on a 24-hour hold pending formal charges. U.S. 36 is the main east-west highway across northern Missouri, running from St. Joseph toward Hannibal and the Illinois line, a corridor used heavily by regional freight and by drivers crossing the state without dropping down to Interstate 70.
The charges, and what they do and do not say
On October 25, the Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney formally charged Blaisdell and Roberts each with one count of receiving stolen property, a Class D felony, the Highway Patrol said. St. Joseph is the seat of Buchanan County in northwest Missouri. Notably, the charge announced is receiving stolen property, not a charge for the taking at the casino itself; the reporting does not explain that prosecutorial choice, and Awaaz Punjab is not speculating about it. Both defendants are presumed innocent unless the state proves the charge in court.
The pattern in the reported accounts is a pretext, not a break-in: a caller or visitor claims routine authority — a courier company, a manager's approval — and the money moves before anyone verifies it independently. The safeguard that defeats this kind of theft is a callback on a known number before cash changes hands, not a better lock on the box.
Background: the casino and cash-box risk
The St. Jo Frontier Casino is a riverboat casino in St. Joseph, owned by Affinity Gaming, which is based in Las Vegas, according to NewsNet5. Casinos move large amounts of cash daily through cages, vaults and collection boxes, which is why their procedures normally separate the person requesting a collection from the person who can approve it. The reported facts suggest that separation broke down for one morning: whoever released the box acted on an approval that, according to K-Jo's reporting, was never real.
What happens next
The case now proceeds in Buchanan County court. None of the three reports published a first court date, any statement from Blaisdell or Roberts or their lawyers, or the casino's own account of its procedures, and those gaps are stated here rather than filled in. The money, on the Highway Patrol's account, was recovered in the vehicle search, so the court case is about the receiving-stolen-property charge and about who set up the collection, a question the current charge alone does not answer.
For truckers and other drivers who use U.S. 36 and Missouri's highways, the case is also a plain example of how Flock plate-reader networks now work in practice in the state: a vehicle description entered after a reported crime produced a located vehicle and a stop within minutes, in a case the Highway Patrol itself chose to publicise.