A couple of swindlers running a three-card monte game in the parking lot of the Petro Truck Stop on Interstate 44 in Joplin, MO, robbed two truck drivers of $5,300, according to a report in the Joplin Globe.
Cpl. Chuck Niess of the Joplin police said the first victim told police that he was approached by a group of men who were playing cards on the lot near his truck. Niess said they asked him to play, “but he had to show them some money first.”
He said the driver went inside the truckstop and withdrew $300 cash from an ATM to join the game. The trucker said the robbers took the money from him, but never let him play, even when he threatened to go call police.
A second truck driver reported being approached a short time later and was returning to the game with $5,000 in hand, when he realized that it was three-card monte, an old swindler’s game involving the palming of a card.
“He didn’t want any part of that,” Niess said. “But when he turned to leave, one of them grabbed him and held him while the other grabbed his money.”
The trucker told police that he fought the robbers and chased them across the parking lot, but they managed to give him the slip.
