Plea for woman caught on video having sex on High Roller delayed

The woman who was caught on video having sex in the High Roller on her 21st birthday will have her criminal case postponed for two weeks, after a judge said Tuesday that he wants her to be present when she enters a plea.

Chloe Scordianos of Hicksville, N.Y., initially wanted to take the felony charge of committing sex acts in public to a preliminary hearing, but her defense attorney Chris Rasmussen said Tuesday that his client would plead guilty, with the judge’s permission, to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct after reaching a deal with prosecutors. Scordianos was not in court Tuesday.

“I have a different plan,” Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen said. “She needs to be here.”

Rasmussen argued that it would be inconvenient for his client to travel from New York.

“She doesn’t have a lot of money. She’s a college kid. She has a son,” Rasmussen said.

The defense attorney also argued that Hafen had planned to let the male defendant plead in absentia, to which Hafen retorted, “Absolutely not!”

“We’re just trying to avoid having the media victimize her further,” Rasmussen said after the hearing. “She’s embarrassed.”

“But, we’ll get her here,” the attorney added. “He’s the judge.”

Scordianos is scheduled to appear before Hafen on April 26.

Rasmussen said before Tuesday’s hearing that “this plea will allow her to close this embarrassing chapter in her life and keep this salacious video private.”

Scordianos’ partner in the extensive nudity and sex acts alleged in a criminal complaint, 27-year-old Philip Frank Panzica III, was shot and killed in his hometown of Houston last month. He had been expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, according to his lawyer, Bennair Bateman.

On the afternoon of Feb. 5, a security guard at the Caesars Entertainment attraction noticed Scordianos and Panzica smoking and undressing in one of 28 cabins on the 550-foot-diameter wheel. Passengers in the next cabin saw the pair and started recording video on their cellphones, according to court documents.

Security footage of the tryst has not been made public.

Security officers at the Linq called Las Vegas police after the pair refused to end their activity, and Scordianos and Panzica were pulled, fully clothed, from the giant glass ball and taken to jail at the end of their 30-minute ride.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber