Man Poses as Hotel Owner, Scams Las Vegas Casino Out of Thousands

Now this is the kind of scam they make movies about.

A man posing as the owner of the Circa Hotel in Las Vegas convinced casino employees that he needed $1 million to pay the fire department for fire safety equipment. He spent more than $300,000 and police were able to recover the rest.

The news was first broken by Las Vegas television station KLAS.

Police say Erik Gutierrez, 23, was arrested and charged with theft of more than $100,000.

According to court documents, however, police believe more than one person was involved.

The casino cage operator was contacted by the man posing as the owner and saying that he needed $1 million for a down payment for fire safety equipment. The cage operator brought the money in four installments to various locations. But by that time, hotel security was on to the man.

The impostor collected $314,000 of what he asked for. The cage operator said she truly believed she was speaking with the hotel owner.

Police tracked down the man through the car he was using, which was registered to his aunt.

After obtaining a search warrant, police say they found a “large bag of U.S. currency bundled together with the name Circa written on the bundle,” literally catching the man red-handed, or rather green-handed.

The incident happened earlier this month.

Police do not know where the $314,000 went.