Man Who Posed as Vegas Hotel and Casino Owner Given $1million in Cash by Staff

A 23-year-old Las Vegas man has been charged with theft after allegedly posing as a casino owner and persuading a staff member to give him more than $1million in cash...

Erik Gutierrez, 23, reportedly convinced a Circa Hotel & Casino cage supervisor to make four separate cash payments totalling $1,170,000, claiming the money was needed for emergency payments to the fire department for fire safety devices.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department revealed details of the scam after arresting Gutierrez and another man believed to be involved in the theft.

According to police reports, someone from hotel security told detectives that “an unknown person...claiming to be the owner of the hotel” had contacted the casino’s cage, asking for $320,000.

Claiming to be Circa’s owner, they convinced the cage supervisor over the phone to bring cash to an off-site location on four separate occasions.

The instalments – $314,000, $350,000, and $500,000, plus three smaller deposits – totalled $1,170,000 and were all made in cash.

Video evidence from an IHOP restaurant discovered during the police investigation led them to Gutierrez’s aunt’s home. While there, police spotted a man arriving in an SUV, entering the residence, and leaving with a backpack.

A search warrant for the vehicle did not uncover money but detectives and officers searching the house found a “large bag of U.S. currency bundled together with the name Circa written on the bundle,” as well as Gutierrez’s ID.

The cash totalled $849,900 and the cage supervisor identified Gutierrez as the person who took delivery of the second and third cash drops.

Gutierrez was arrested at a gym on June 18th and had bond set at $25,000 by Judge Amy Ferreira, who also ordered the suspected thief to stay away from Circa and the Fremont Street Experience.

Gutierrez reportedly faces a similar charge out of Mesquite (Nevada) Justice Court, where his bail has been set at $20,000, according to Las Vegas CBS Tv station KLAS. A “very similar” out-of-state case is suspected to be connected to Gutierrez.

“Although I love a good PR story, this isn’t one of them,” Circa CEO Derek Stevens told WLAS in a statement. “Circa Resort & Casino is cooperating with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in this investigation. We greatly appreciate their efforts to date and cannot comment further due to an ongoing investigation.”

The real owner of the downtown Vegas casino is Derek Stevens.