(FixThisNation.com) – A man is being accused of theft of more than $1 million after he supposedly posed as a Las Vegas hotel owner and had a casino employee give him over $1 million in bogus payments for fire safety equipment.
Erik Gutierrez, 23 was arrested following a call received by the Las Vegas Metro police on June 17, in which the Circa Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas reported the alleged scam. Someone from the hotel’s security office informed detectives that an “unknown person” had contacted the casino pretending to be the hotel owner and requested $320,000 for an emergency payment that needed to be made to the fire department.
Following an interview with the cage supervisor, who is reportedly the person who received the store from the person claiming to be the hotel’s owner, it was revealed that the person who called the hotel had stated that the fire department would need to check all the fire extinguishers and required an additional payment for the installment of more safety devices.
According to the documents, the cage supervisor then handed the money to the unknown person in four installments in different off-site locations. The payments totaled $1,170,000 which were paid in installments. The employee stated that she was under the impression that she was on the phone with the owner of the hotel and had been texting her manager. The documents also revealed that she was under the impression she was meeting with the hotel owner’s attorney.
Following the call, detectives were able to track the vehicle used in the suspected theft which was Gutierrez’s aunt. Gutierrez was arrested one day later at the gym, and the police were able to retrieve $850,000 while they were looking for the remaining $314,000.
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