Man Allegedly Posed As Casino Owner, Convinced Staff To Give Him $1 Million

A man is accused of posing as the wealthy owner of a casino and convincing an employee to give him cash.

According to a report from 8newsnow.com, Erik Gutierrez, 23, is accused of receiving more than $1 million in “bogus payments for fire safety equipment.” He’s been charged with theft in Las Vegas.

The alleged incident happened in June at Circa Hotel & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. The real owner of the casino is Derek Stevens.

According to the report:

A person from the hotel’s security office told detectives “an unknown person” had contacted the casino cage “claiming to be the owner of the hotel” and asking for $320,000 for an emergency payment to the fire department, police wrote in court documents. Police interviewed the cage supervisor, who said they received a phone call from a person who claimed they were the hotel’s owner. The person, who was not the hotel’s owner, said “the fire department needed to do a check on the fire extinguishers” and “they would need a payment for further safety devices,” documents said. The cage supervisor brought the money to the unknown person in four installments at different off-site locations, documents said.

According to the reporting, the payments totaled $314,000, $350,000, and $500,000, plus three smaller deposits. In all, there a loss of $1,170,000 to the casino-hotel.

Police arrested Gutierrez at a gym on Sunday, June 18. Authorities reportedly recovered nearly $850,000, while the rest is missing.