Roberto Solis

Case record: Roberto Solis

Background

Roberto Solis (born 1945) was an armored car robber, convicted murderer, and poet. He had more than 30 aliases, including Pancho Aguila, a pen name he used in prison while writing poetry.

Solis served 17 years in prison for murdering a security guard during a robbery in 1969. He was given parole in 1992. After his release, he began calling himself Julius Suave and met Heather Tallchief.

Heather Tallchief got a job with a security company at Solis’ urging. The FBI later associated Solis and Tallchief with a major armored car heist in 1993.

The offence

1969 armored car robbery and murder

In 1969, Solis held up an armored car in San Francisco. He shot the 61-year-old guard in the back and grabbed the money bag; the money bag was empty. The guard died, and Solis was imprisoned afterward.

1993 armored car heist

In October 1993, Tallchief drove off with an armoured vehicle containing $2.5 million, following Solis’ instructions. Solis and Tallchief subsequently went on the run and had a child.

Authorities later said they were responsible for a $3 million armored car heist in 1993. Ten years after the million-dollar heist, Tallchief was behind bars, and Solis remained a wanted man.

By summer 1993, agents said the plan was ready. The couple moved to Las Vegas where Tallchief had secured a job as a driver for Loomis Armored, Inc. The FBI said the couple rented a warehouse. Their cover story was that they were opening a business called Steel Reinforcement Inc. to reinforce vehicles and armored cars.

The FBI said Solis and Tallchief chartered a private jet that would serve as their getaway.

On October 1, 2003, Tallchief drove a Loomis armored van to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, where she dropped off two co-workers—a guard and a courier—to make a delivery. Tallchief waited for them outside in the van. When they returned from inside the casino, the van, Tallchief, and the money were nowhere in sight. Agents said she drove a few blocks to the warehouse that Solis and Tallchief had rented, and that she arrived there undetected along with the loot.

According to the FBI, by 10:15 a.m., Solis and Tallchief boarded a jet and took off. Tallchief was disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair, with Solis as her doctor. They flew to Denver and then made their way to Miami.

Investigation

Authorities said Tallchief and Solis fled Las Vegas in a chartered plane to Denver and were disguised as elderly people, with Tallchief using a wheelchair.

The stolen armored van was found two weeks after the theft in a garage at 708 S. First St. It was abandoned with a .357 Magnum revolver, a notebook, and about $3,100 in small bills.

Bogus passports intended for the couple were confiscated in Miami with their photos and the names of Nicole Marie Reger and Joseph Anthony Panura.

The FBI's Las Vegas office described Tallchief and Solis as two of the Las Vegas office’s most-wanted fugitives.

Arrest / surrender / custody

Heather Tallchief turned herself in to Las Vegas authorities in September 2005, surrendering after more than 10 years on the run. She turned herself in on September 15, 2005.

Tallchief arrived in Las Vegas on Wednesday after flying to Los Angeles from Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Monday. She surrendered to the U.S. Marshals Service and was escorted to the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse by her lawyers, Las Vegas attorney Daniel Albregts and Connecticut attorney Bob Axelrod.

Tallchief appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston with her ankles shackled. Johnston declared her a flight risk and granted the prosecutor’s request to keep her in custody. Defense lawyers did not object to the request.

Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Fidencio Rivera said his office had received no warning and that it was a surprise to his office. David Schrom, a spokesman for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, said the news also came as a surprise to the FBI.

After her court appearance Thursday afternoon, Tallchief was taken to the Las Vegas Detention Center.

Roberto Solis, also known as Julius Suave, remained an wanted man and was at large.

Trial / charges

Tallchief faced nine felony charges: bank larceny, conspiracy, making a false statement in application for a passport, interstate transportation of stolen property, flight to avoid prosecution, bank fraud, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, possession of false identification documents and embezzlement.

Sentencing / parole

Solis had been sentenced to life in prison for murder and was paroled in 1992.

Appeals

No appeal information was stated.

Outcome

Solis was paroled in 1992 but later remained at large after the 1993 heist involving an armored vehicle. Tallchief surrendered in September 2005. Solis continued to be described as a fugitive and a wanted man.

Aftermath / related details

After his parole, Solis began calling himself Julius Suave and hooked up with a 20-year-old named Heather Tallchief. Authorities said Solis and Tallchief moved to Mexico where they began preparations for a major heist.

Tallchief became pregnant a few months after fleeing with Solis. Shortly after the birth of her son, Tallchief left Solis and the stolen money. Albregts said Solis had control of the money and that they would show why they believed Tallchief did not have any of the money.

Tallchief said she dropped her son off at his school in Amsterdam on Monday and told him: "I told him to practice his guitar, have fun at his sporting club, do his homework, and I'll see you soon," she said.

Solis was described as a native of Nicaragua. Tallchief was described as a Seneca Indian.

Mark Clark, spokesman for Loomis Armored successor Loomis, Fargo & Co. of Houston, welcomed Tallchief’s surrender but said the company wanted the missing money. Clark said: "I don't suppose she turned the money in when she turned herself in," Clark said Thursday.

Defense lawyers said they planned to present a defense of "mental duress." Albregts said: "We believe that we will be able to show that she was under such influence and control of Mr. Solis that it essentially was tantamount to being brainwashed, and on the chosen day he told her to drive away with the money and meet him at a storage unit where he parked the truck, and that's what she did."

Axelrod said Tallchief's story is for sale and that she planned to give any proceeds to her victims. When a reporter asked how the defendant was paying for her two lawyers, Axelrod replied: "None of your business."

Albregts then added: "Other than to say with entirely lawful means."

Albregts said Tallchief had been living in a "loving family relationship" for several years and that her fiance would care for her son while she resolved her criminal case. Albregts said Tallchief has not seen Solis in more than a decade and does not know his whereabouts.

Albregts said Tallchief chose to surrender because she believed her son "was old enough to understand but to forgive." Axelrod described her as a "soccer mom" who lived a normal life under an assumed identity. Axelrod said: "There is no meaningful possibility that she would have been apprehended."

Albregts said her identity was well-hidden from the world and that she had worked for the past few years as a maid in a small 17th-century hotel in Amsterdam. He said she had family in Buffalo, N.Y., but had had no contact with her relatives since she fled with Solis.

Albregts said the lawyers notified an assistant U.S. attorney 10 minutes before Tallchief surrendered, and Rivera said those involved in her arrest had said she was courteous and gave the impression that she was resigned to move on with the ordeal.

Tallchief told reporters before turning herself in: "I truly feel this is the right thing to do," Tallchief told reporters before turning herself in.