A Kalispell man was sentenced to the Montana State Prison for robbing a casino in January.
Andrew Taylor Nelson was sentenced to prison for 15 years with five years suspended for felony robbery during a July 6 hearing in Flathead County District Court. Nelson received credit for 176 days served. Nelson also received an additional five-year sentence with credit for 403 days served stemming from a 2013 assault for which he was serving at the time he committed the robbery.
According to court documents, Nelson and Mason Rockwell Smith walked into a Kalispell casino at 2:20 a.m. on Jan. 10 brandishing a handgun. The two men ordered a casino employee to turn around and not look at them while they emptied the casino’s safe and money box into duffle bags. The men then ordered the woman into a back room, took her cell phone and told her to stay there for 30 minutes.
Using security camera footage, detectives with the Kalispell Police Department were able to identify Smith and Nelson as the primary suspects. Police searched Nelson’s home and discovered several thousand dollars hidden in cereal boxes. Nelson was arrested later that day and admitted that he robbed the casino, according to charging documents.
During the investigation, officers also learned that Nelson’s girlfriend, Nicolette Star Levengood, worked at the casino that was robbed. According to witnesses, Levengood told the two men the best time of day to rob the casino and where the panic button was located. Levengood allegedly told friends that Smith and Nelson had been planning the robbery for several weeks. On Jan. 11 and 12, Nelson spoke with Levengood from jail. During those conversations, Nelson told the woman to delete text messages between the two presumably discussing the robbery.
Smith, 26, and Nelson, 22, were charged with felony robbery and kidnapping. Levengood, 20, was charged with felony accountability to robbery and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges in February.
After Nelson changed his plea to guilty in May, the kidnapping charge was dropped. Levengood pleaded no contest to felony accountability to robbery and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. She will be sentenced next month. Smith is expected to stand trial in October.