What happens in Vegas obviously doesn’t stay there as one man pushes the limit of what even Las Vegas will allow. According to court documents one man posed as a Las Vegas hotel owner. While impersonating the owner of the hotel the man convinced a casino employee to give him more than $1 million in bogus payments for fire safety equipment.
Records prove that Erik Gutierrez is a 23-year-old with some major confidence, as he is charged with theft of more than $100,000.
This ranks as the #1 bizarre story of the month. A man cold called the Cage at Circa in Downtown Las Vegas claiming to be the Owner…and they gave him $1,000,000. What?https://t.co/K2ozAIu0wd
— Mark wayman (@GodfatherWaym) June 27, 2023
Las Vegas Metro police responded to the Circa Hotel & Casino on June 17th after a call came in of a possible scam. Police wrote in court documents that the hotel’s security office told detectives “an unknown person” had contacted the casino cage “claiming to be the owner of the hotel.” The man on the line asked for $320,000 for an emergency payment to the fire department.
Police interviewed the cage supervisor, who collaborated on the story. The impersonator said “The fire department needed to do a check on the fire extinguishers” and “they would need a payment for further safety devices.”
The cage supervisor bought the act and brought the money in four installments to the unknown person at different off-site locations. The payments totaled $314,000, $350,000, and $500,000, plus three smaller deposits. According to reports, the total loss to the hotel was $1,170,000. Police claim that the employee truly believed she was on the phone with the hotel’s owner and texting with her manager.
Erik Gutierrez-Martinez, 23, has been charged with pretending to own the Circa Hotel in downtown Las Vegas and convincing employees to give him more than £800,000 in cashhttps://t.co/DDEXSfjKhR
— Daily Star (@dailystar) June 29, 2023
Las Vegas detectives were able to track the vehicle involved in the suspected theft. They were able to find its registered owner which happened to be Gutierrez’s aunt whom he lived with at the time.
Police watched the home and saw Gutierrez and another man leave in a different vehicle. Police searched the original car, finding no money in it.
Police obtained a search warrant for the home around the same time as the surveillance operation. According to documents law enforcement found identification belonging to Gutierrez, a “large bag of U.S. currency bundled together with the name Circa written on the bundle,” and other items.
"Judge Amy Ferreira set Gutierrez’s bail at $25,000 and ordered him to stay away from Circa and the Fremont Street Experience…" https://t.co/QlDJsD0whr
— Las Vegas Locally ???? (@LasVegasLocally) June 26, 2023
Police arrested Gutierrez at a gym. They later recovered nearly $850,000. Police did not know who was given the outstanding $314,000.
