www.CostaRicaTicas.com :: View topic - Sportsman Lodge Robbery

I was at the SL the night it happened. I woke up hearing loud voices at about 4:30AM. No one ever rattled my door, and I spoke with several guys. Nobody's door was rattled, none of the guests I spoke to was robbed. Note that the article does not say anything about guests being robbed when speaking about the SL. They made a general comment about this being a usual practice.

I still feel far, far safer at the SL than anyplace else. What other hotel has four armed security guards at night? The chances of having one guard being in on a burglary is rather common; with four guards on duty, I feel the ones not in on it will likely stop the intruders or rat out the one that is planning something if they hear something.

Any other hotels have four armed security guards at night? I haven't found one yet.

Author:	Bariomarca [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:39 am ]
Post subject:	Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Here is part of an article from today's Amcostarica about some hotels being robbed. Be careful out there. A short time later men arrived at the locked front door of the Sportsmen's Lodge on Calle 13 between avenidas 9 and 11 in north San JosÃ©. They produced what looked like a hotel key to the guard and said they were returning to their rooms after a night out, said a spokesman for the hotel and restaurant. Once inside they tied up the guard and sought cash. The spokesman said that the four crooks did not get much money, but that they took computer equipment. He speculated that a fifth man was waiting in a vehicle outside the business

Author:	Mucho Gusto [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:56 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Here's the complete article on the first page in today's (Thurs. August 4) A.M. Costa Rica article: http://www.amcostarica.com/ Robbers on the night shift hit two hotels in city By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The bold downtown robbers seem to be targeting hotels. Bandits robbed two such places in San JosÃ© early Wednesday within an hour. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the first place hit was a hotel on Avenida Primera at Cuesta de Mora hill just a short distance from the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. That happened at 12:20 a.m. Three men, two with guns and one with a long pipe, arrived at the gate to the reception area and threatened the lone employee inside, said agents. Under threats from the gunmen, the female employee opened the gate or porton and was quickly bound, gagged and thrown to the floor, said the agency. The crooks got away with about 3 million colons, about $6,000, the judicial police said. A short time later men arrived at the locked front door of the Sportsmen's Lodge on Calle 13 between avenidas 9 and 11 in north San JosÃ©. They produced what looked like a hotel key to the guard and said they were returning to their rooms after a night out, said a spokesman for the hotel and restaurant. Once inside they tied up the guard and sought cash. The spokesman said that the four crooks did not get much money, but that they took computer equipment. He speculated that a fifth man was waiting in a vehicle outside the business. Later in the day at 8:50 a.m. two armed men held up the lone employee at a cell telephone store near the main office of Correos de Costa Rica, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. They took cell telephones and portable computers to the tune of 7 million colons, said agents. That's about $14,000. A robber did not fare too well in GuÃ¡piles about 1 p.m. Wednesday. The man entered a jewelry story in the center of town and produced a gun. The owner was one of two persons there, and he struggled with the man, who fled with a small amount of jewelry, said judicial agents. A short time later they located a suspect in a nearby vacant lot and recovered a plastic gun and jewelry, they said. The two hotel robberies are not unique. There have been other such crimes in the city center. In two cases, the crooks went from room to room to awaken guests and take their possessions and money. The daylight downtown robberies may not be by the same gang. There has been a wave of such crimes, mostly at stores located on the main pedestrian promenade, the bricked over Avenida Central. The robbers still are loose despite beefed up Fuerza PÃºblica presence, municipal police and surveillance cameras.

Author:	Admin 1 [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
This was actually two nights ago and Bill didn't mention anything yesterday when we corresponded.. Quote: going from room to room is kinda scary. If you read the article this DID NOT HAPPEN.. the author indicated other hotels had this happen, lets not start the rumor mill.

Author:	El Guapo [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:06 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Wow. I can see trying to make a fast grab at the front desk or maybe even the bar, but going from room to room is kinda scary. That carries a lot more risk. SL security guy is packing heat too as I recall. I guess that's why the subterfuge.

Author:	Puravidatransport [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:08 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
I was in SL about 7am on Wednesday morning and had a client trying to check out. Sure enough, no computers. He was allowed to leave but reception said they would e-mail a copy of his bill so he could check it over and when he was sure it was correct, they would go ahead and bill his credit card. Nothing looked out of place and security had to let me into the hotel. They looked at me a bit funny and hesitated which is something I'd never had happen. However, nothing looked out of place inside SL, no apparent damage. Did see Gary eating the normal breakfast and wondered why in the world he was up at 7am but he didn't mention anything having happened earlier that morning when we spoke/ My client knew nothing about the robbery and never mentioned it in the 6 hours we spent on the road. He had a courtyard room and claimed to have not slept well and since he didn't know anything about the incident, must have been a fairly quiet event and no customers bothered. I just learned of it from A.M. Costa Rica... During normal business hours, there are several security guards with weapons spread throughout the hotel. These robbers obviously knew the drill...show a hotel key to gain access but only late at night with the reduce staff on duty.

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Author:	PacoLoco [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:17 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Were the robbers Ticos or other Latinos and if so were they wearing fat old gringo disguises to fool the guard?

Author:	DGD [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:20 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Alot of hotels with no night receptionist desk give the night "security" guy a print out of guests names and room numbers which could have prevented this. Glad nobody got hurt.

Author:	Dr.Mario [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
I am sure Bill is taking the proper steps to make sure nothing like this happens again. Everything that we read on this subject could be hearsay for all we know. So let's try not to speculate. We are not a knitting club here. Bill will inform us of the true story once he has had time to review the entire situation. So until the, sit tight gossip girls.....lol the DR <--------OG for all the haters......

Author:	K-Paxian [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:51 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
I was at the SL the night it happened. I woke up hearing loud voices at about 4:30AM. No one ever rattled my door, and I spoke with several guys. Nobody's door was rattled, none of the guests I spoke to was robbed. Note that the article does not say anything about guests being robbed when speaking about the SL. They made a general comment about this being a usual practice. I still feel far, far safer at the SL than anyplace else. What other hotel has four armed security guards at night? The chances of having one guard being in on a burglary is rather common; with four guards on duty, I feel the ones not in on it will likely stop the intruders or rat out the one that is planning something if they hear something. Any other hotels have four armed security guards at night? I haven't found one yet.

Author:	True Sportsman [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
K-Paxian wrote: I was at the SL the night it happened. I woke up hearing loud voices at about 4:30AM. No one ever rattled my door, and I spoke with several guys. Nobody's door was rattled, none of the guests I spoke to was robbed. Note that the article does not say anything about guests being robbed when speaking about the SL. They made a general comment about this being a usual practice. I still feel far, far safer at the SL than anyplace else. What other hotel has four armed security guards at night? The chances of having one guard being in on a burglary is rather common; with four guards on duty, I feel the ones not in on it will likely stop the intruders or rat out the one that is planning something if they hear something. Any other hotels have four armed security guards at night? I haven't found one yet. Gentlemen, Thanks for your interest in Sportsmens Lodge. We did have the incident described in AM Costa Rica the other night. Nobody was injured and the guests slept through the 20 minute invasion that occurred at 2:28 am. One crooked guard looks like the cause. He is gone and we did adopt a new procedure requiring a list of guests to check at the front guard station and requires two guards to have a guest pass through the front gate after closing between 12:00am and 6:00am. It is frusterating to take the hit due to the fact I have 4 armed guards at the Lodge every night??? I will hire 10 if I need to! Nobody was injured including the guards. Thanks, Bill

Author:	PlaneCrazy [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Wow! I was in the SL converting $$ to colones just that evening! What's really phucked up is that right after that, I walked down to the Mas X Menos and as I was going through Parque Espana, I saw 7 policemen questioning one lone homeless guy. WTF? Seven??! If these cops actually patrolled instead of just hanging around the parks and the Del Rey, maybe some of these robberies wouldn't happen.

Author:	Lennydo [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:06 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
My take on this is that while it's unfortunate to have happened. You can damn well bet on even better security at SL going forward. We all may be a bit inconvenienced coming in late from Del Rey and being checked out like a chica, but once the guards know you as a regular guest that will subside.

Author:	Thirdworld [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:21 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Seemed to be business as usual today. Did a walk through and it was a pretty good crowd for early afternoon. Glad it wasn't worse that it was and with beefed up security measures, I imagine it won't happen again.

Author:	8ball [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:38 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
I heard that now you can't bring in a bottle of shampoo in your bag bigger than 3.2 ounces, and security randomly pulls dudes aside and puts their hands all up in your junk.

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Author:	Chilimike [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:02 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Sportsman Lodge Robbery
Hey just like in my restaurant (back door area ) we have a cage area that you must get Buzzed in first (you ring a bell , person inside the building lets you in the cage area....they are looking out a window in the door) then once your in the cage area ...the person inside either lets you in or you stay in cage ...if your someone we dont know .....the best thing about it (if it's used correctly ,,,the bad person watches how it works before the crime and sees they could be caught in the cage ......I could see that area in front of the sportmens doing it without much work (Bill I could take some photos of it and send it if you like ? )