Police Crack Chips Robbery: It Was a Hoax

LAS VEGAS — The story about dimwitted bandits who robbed a potato chip truck thinking it carried casino chips was a hoax, police say.

Authorities believe truck driver Rodney Dwayne Bont, 30, reported the theft to help pay off gambling debts.

Bont told police last week that he was accosted at knifepoint by two men who forced him to drive his Vegas Chips delivery truck into a remote area. He said the robbers beat him and robbed him of $680 when they learned his cargo was junk food rather than casino currency. “We’re just glad that it was not true, that we didn’t have people out there this stupid,” Police Lt. Carl Fruge said.

Meanwhile, Vegas Chips is shelving an ad campaign that exploited the robbery. The hasty $10,000 campaign showed a bag of Vegas Chips with the message “You’ve Got to Hold ‘em, Not Hold ‘em Up.”