Eyebrows were raised last week when it was reported that a man posing as Circa Casino owner Derek Stevens duped the resort out of $1.1m. But now local reports state that the scheme is even more complicated, as those involved attempted similar jobs at two other casinos.
8 News Now reports that as well as Circa Hotel & Casino, Eureka Casino Resort in Mesquite and Golden Nugget Casino in Laughlin were both caught up in the mess.
Erik Gutierrez, 23, was arrested at a gym on June 18 after claiming to be Circa’s owner when he reached out and contacted the Circa casino cage seeking $320,000 for what he claimed was an emergency payment to the fire department.
The cage supervisor acquiesced and, on four separate occasions, met with Gutierrez at locations away from Circa delivering more than $1.1m in payments to the man she believed owned the casino.
Investigations have revealed that Gutierrez attempted similar moves at other locations, as he met with a casino cage supervisor from Eureka back in March to steal $250,000.
The employee was telephoned from a Mexican phone number and was told to meet somebody that police now believe to be Gutierrez at a gas station with the cash. However, before the transaction had taken place, somebody at the casino warned her and she subsequently returned with the cash intact.
It is also believed that Gutierrez had also tried a similar plot at Golden Nugget, though no further details were uncovered about the incident and he was never charged with anything to do with this allegation.
This comes just weeks after the conman was arrested for his plot at Circa, where he managed to steal $1.1m.
When police obtained a warrant for Gutierrez and searched his home, they were able to recover around $850,000 of the funds. No other people have been charged in relation to the con job. Police are unsure of where the remaining $320,000 has gone.
