A Las Vegas man, 23-year-old Erik Gutierrez, was charged over the weekend with pulling off a scam in which he posed as a hotel owner and tricked a casino employee into giving him more than $1 million in payments for fire safety equipment, according to documents obtained by Nexstar's KLAS.
Police explained in court documents that earlier this month an individual from the security office of Circa Hotel & Casino told detectives that "an unknown person" had called the casino cage "claiming to be the owner of the hotel" and requesting $320,000 for an emergency payment to the fire department.
Police interviewed the cage supervisor, who said they received a phone call from someone claiming to be the hotel owner and that "the fire department needed to do a check on the fire extinguishers" and "they would need a payment for further safety devices."
Gutierrez was eventually caught when police tracked the vehicle involved in the alleged theft, and found its registered owner, who was apparently his aunt, with whom he lives.
Police obtained a search warrant of the home and discovered identification belonging to Gutierrez, a "large bag of U.S. currency bundled together with the name Circa written on the bundle," and other items, they said.
Gutierrez was arrested the following day at a gym, and eventually $850,000 was recovered. Police, however, do not know what happened to the remaining $314,000.
The judge set Gutierrez's bail at $25,000 and ordered him to stay away from Circa if he posts bond, documents said.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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