Man Steals $1M From Vegas Casino With Clever Disguise

(RepublicanDaily.org) – Twenty-three-year-old Erik Gutierrez is facing a charge of theft over $100,000 after allegedly pretending to be the owner of a Las Vegas casino hotel and stealing over $1 million. According to the allegations, Gutierrez pretended to be the owner of the Circa Hotel and Casino, persuading staff at the casino to give him large amounts of money to buy “fire safety” equipment and settle a payment to the Las Vegas fire department.

Circa reported the suspected scam on June 17 and police began their investigation. The casino cage supervisor said they received a call alleging to be from the hotel owner and requesting various payments that the man on the phone claimed were necessary to ensure safety compliance and “purchase further safety devices” for the fire safety system.

The alleged owner said this was all urgent and necessary keep up to date with fire safety regulations in Las Vegas. This man claiming to be the owner convinced the cashier employee to bring him four payment installments at locations around the city amount to $1.17 million in losses and told her she would also be meeting with another man who was the hotel’s lawyer.

Shortly after Circa reported the suspected fraud, authorities managed to identify Gutierrez’s vehicle and used it to identify him. They then raided his home, locating his ID inside the residence along with a large volume of US cash labeled “Circa.” Police arrested Gutierrez on June 18 at his gym. He is currently in jail on $25,000 bail and has his first court appearance schedule for July 5.

Police managed to get back $850,000 but $314,000 is still missing. Police say that four similar crimes happened in casino and hotel properties in Clark County and in a neighboring state and they are looking at links between them. Circa says it is cooperating fully with Las Vegas police in investigating what happened.

“We greatly appreciate their efforts to date and cannot comment further due to an ongoing investigation,” commented the actual owner of Circa Derek Stevens.