A MAN accused of holding up two Hamilton hotels and attempting to rob a pub at Waratah over a five-week span earlier this year allegedly "laundered" some of the proceeds through poker machines.
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Jesse Nikolovski, now 29, of Hamilton, appeared in Newcastle Local Court last week charged with two counts of armed robbery and one of attempted armed robbery.
Mr Nikolovski did not enter any pleas and will remain behind bars until his next court appearance in December.
Detectives allege Mr Nikolovski was the masked man armed with either a knife or a firearm who attempted to hold up the Royal Inn at Waratah on July 3 before robbing The Exchange Hotel at Hamilton on July 8 and The Bennett Hotel at Hamilton on August 7.
Police allege Mr Nikolovski's approach was always the same; he would hide in the shadows outside of a pub until closing time only to emerge when staff members had locked up and began walking to their cars.
He remained inside for hours, destroying evidence and lighting a fire in the bathroom.
- Police said of Jesse NIkolovski.
Then Mr Nikolovski would allegedly produce a weapon - a 30 centimetre blade - or say he had a gun and order the staff members back inside where he would ransack the safe.
But on the first attempt at Waratah, the staff did not have keys to get back in and Mr Nikolovski was allegedly forced to flee empty handed.
The day after The Exchange Hotel was robbed and the thief stole tens of thousands of dollars, detectives allege Mr Nikolovski was captured on CCTV at West Leagues Club feeding $50 notes into a poker machine and later printing a ticket to collect.
Detectives allege he was "laundering" or cleaning the proceeds of the robbery.
Mr Nikolovski is accused of doing a similar thing at a hotel at Charlestown the day after The Bennett Hotel was robbed.
Mr Nikolovski was arrested on August 9 after a siege in Hamilton, during which he is accused of destroying evidence and lighting a fire in the bathroom.
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