LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — A Cincinnati man was found guilty of kidnapping and multiple other charges Thursday after robbing a Dearborn County casino in March 2024.
Prosecutors said 42-year-old Daniel Birdseye entered the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg on March 2, 2024, armed with a loaded 9mm handgun. Surveillance footage and witnesses said he confronted employees and demanded money from the casino cage area, threatening them with the gun and forcing them to take him to their secured spaces.
"There's a guy here right now trying to rob the place — Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg," one person said in a 911 call obtained by WCPO 9. "We're all on the ground ... we're all on the ground right now."
Birdseye then stole "large amounts of cash" and forced an employee to act as a hostage as he walked out of the casino. We spoke with a witness who saw the moment he grabbed the hostage.
"I guess some security approached him, and he grabbed somebody — he grabbed a hostage — and started running down the hallway," Chris Simon told us. "People were literally laying on the floors, ducking under tables. It was pretty chaotic there for a couple of minutes."
WATCH: We were there the night of the robbery
Police arrested Birdseye in the nearby Oxbow Nature Conservancy shortly after he left the casino. Officers were able to recover his gun, ammunition and stolen cash. During a recorded interview, he admitted to committing the robbery with his loaded gun.
After a four-day trial, a Dearborn County jury convicted Birdseye of kidnapping, criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon and three counts of intimidation while armed with a deadly weapon. Birdseye had also pleaded guilty to robbery while armed with a deadly weapon during the first day of the trial.
"This case involved an extraordinary coordinated response from law enforcement, investigators, casino staff and emergency personnel from the moment the robbery occurred," Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens said in a release. "Because of that coordinated effort, a dangerous armed offender was apprehended quickly, critical evidence was preserved and the jury was able to hear the full scope of the defendant's actions."
Prosecutors said this is believed to be the first prosecuted casino robbery in state history. Birdseye's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 4.
