Vegas Heist Suspect Can't Resist Bragging

And that's a quick way to get caught:

The scenes that led to the Bellagio casino bandit's downfall look less like "Ocean's Eleven" and more like "America's Dumbest Criminals."

Bragging about a big gambling score with high school buddies over rounds of shots in Colorado. E-mailing pictures to a total stranger -- dated and signed "Biker Bandit" with two $25,000 Bellagio chips. Losing $105,000 gambling at the scene of the crime in Las Vegas, but cashing out nearly $209,000 and apparently hoping the casino wouldn't notice.

The deceptively simple burglary lit up the Internet -- appealing to anyone who's ever had fantasies about pulling off a major score against a casino giant. But police say Anthony Carleo's shoddy plan after stealing $1.5 million in chips unfolded like a badly played poker hand.

"At one point I think he asked me, 'What do I do?"' said Matthew Brooks, a poker enthusiast from Washington, D.C., who went to the FBI after trading e-mails and phone calls with Carleo. "And I'm like, 'I don't know what to tell you, man."'

Carleo, the 29-year-old son of a Las Vegas municipal judge, declined to comment to reporters Friday.

Police say he's the helmeted bandit who entered the Bellagio on Dec. 14, brandished a gun and made off on a motorcycle with the chips in denominations from $100 to $25,000. He was arrested Wednesday, a day after an undercover officer bought four $25,000 chips from him, then offered an invitation -- to become part of a crew that would rob casinos, including the Bellagio.

Carleo's response to officers: He'd already robbed the place.

Given that he stole casino chips and not cash this effort was pretty much doomed from the start. Chips can only be cashed in at the issuing casino, and $25,000 chips would immediately generate a lot of attention.

The idea might have sounded good in his head, but in reality it was just a matter of time before he got caught.