Las Vegas crimes halted

Police nab 5 accused of planning Las Vegas home invasion
By Jackie Valley


A recently formed Asian Organized Crime Task Force arrested five suspects who had allegedly traveled to Las Vegas to rob a home and obtain cocaine, Metro Police said.

The operation — called "Vegas Hold-em" — is the largest so far by the task force, which is a joint federal and local law enforcement partnership.

James Arum Han, 28, Rene Antwan Hypolite, 23, David Chon, 28, Howard Suh, 25, and Kyung Hoon Han, 35, face federal charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, police said.

All are from Southern California and had allegedly come to Las Vegas to commit the crimes, officials said. The suspects were arrested Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of the Rio Hotel and Casino.

According to a criminal complaint, Han met with an FBI informant at the Wynn Las Vegas in December and said he had several home invasion crews while expressing his desire to commit those crimes in Las Vegas. He also allegedly told the informant he was responsible for more than 100 robberies and had access to several drugs.

About a month later, Han met with an FBI informant and undercover agent again and said "I am more hungry than anyone else" and "I am no rookie" when asked why he wanted to do home invasions, officials said in the complaint.

The criminal complaint alleges that on Jan. 18, Han told the FBI informant that he was getting his "home boys" together for the planned home invasion that weekend.

The suspects brought equipment, such as police uniforms, BB guns and Tasers, to Las Vegas, according to the criminal complaint.

Then, they met with the FBI informant, who told them the house they were going to rob contained a large stash of cocaine, the criminal complaint alleges.

Officials arrested the suspects and recovered several weapons as they left the hotel and casino allegedly to commit the home invasion, police said.

Officials expect to make more arrests in the case and possibly file more charges against the suspects.