Las Vegas is famous for making people lose money. Usually, it happens at a casino table. This time, one tourist allegedly found a much more creative way to lose more than $32,000.
The tourist reportedly told police that his wild night at a luxury hotel ended with a very unpleasant morning surprise. He allegedly spent the night in a hot tub with two women. Sounds like the beginning of a Las Vegas adventure.
Instead, it apparently ended like a financial horror movie.
According to the police report, the tourist woke up and discovered that $1,200 in cash was missing. That alone would be enough to ruin breakfast, but things got much worse when he checked his accounts.
There were reportedly more than $32,000 in unauthorized transactions.
At that point, the hot tub probably stopped looking quite so relaxing.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the main told officers he met a woman at the Marquee Nightclub at The Cosmopolitan on Feb. 24, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
He said the two went back to his room at Aria on the Strip, where surveillance footage showed another woman joining them.
The two women were later identified by investigators as Brenae Sandusky and Linda Green.
The Sin City tourist told police he had no recollection of how he got back to his room after downing about 10 mixed drinks that night.
He also told cops he didn’t think the women were sex workers and that there was no agreement he would pay them for sex.
That is one expensive way to discover that not every Vegas memory deserves to be kept.
The reported transactions added another level of chaos to the story. While the tourist may have been expecting a wild night, he probably was not expecting his bank account to join the party.
The man told detectives the three hit the hot tub, drank a bottle of wine and “a short time later the three agreed to go to sleep.”
Surveillance video from the hotel showed the women leaving Aria around 6:34 a.m. and taking off in a cab, police said.
When the man woke around 9 a.m., cops said, he found his wallet open with $1,200 in cash gone, along with Apple Pay notifications for $9,113 unauthorized transactions. He said he also received alerts from Wells Fargo for another $23,400 in transactions.
Las Vegas has always had a reputation for unforgettable nights, but there is a big difference between losing $500 at blackjack and waking up to unauthorized transactions worth tens of thousands of dollars.
At least at the casino, you know where the money went.
Police put a flyer out with images of the women from surveillance video in March, with MGM officials later identifying them as Green and Sandusky. Their names also matched the recipients of unauthorized wire transfers from the man’s phone.
The case resurfaced months later when prosecutors filed charges against both women in August, court records obtained by The California Post show.
A warrant was issued for Green, who is facing a felony charge of grand larceny involving property valued at $5,000 or more but less than $25,000.
For the tourist, the lesson is painfully expensive. Keep an eye on your belongings, protect your cards, and maybe think twice before turning a random hotel hot tub encounter into the highlight of your Vegas vacation.
