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Attack on America Story index The sun shines Thursday behind a sign advertising the Econo Lodge at 1150 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Terrorist Mohamed Atta stayed at the 120-room property during two trips to Las Vegas in the last three months. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Friday, September 21, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

No evidence terrorism plotted in Las Vegas

Man implicated in attack visited twice

Intensive investigation has unearthed no evidence that a man implicated in the World Trade Center attack was plotting any terrorist activity in Las Vegas when he visited the city twice in the past three months, authorities said Thursday.

Interviews Thursday with law enforcement officials and local residents indicate Las Vegas FBI agents have talked with scores of individuals since the Sept. 11 attacks that shocked the world.

But in recent days, the activity of federal and local investigators has focused heavily on two visits by Mohamed Atta, the 33-year-old urban planner authorities believe piloted one of the airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center.

Business records show that on two occasions, most recently last month, Atta stayed at the Econo Lodge at 1150 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

The motel is near the 1,149-foot Stratosphere tower, the Lloyd George Federal Courthouse and the Las Vegas office of the FBI. But authorities said there is no evidence Atta was here to plan terrorist activity.

"He was in town just a little while," Sheriff Jerry Keller said. "We know of no sinister intent and we have no information that would lead us to believe anything was targeted."

The New York Times reported today that investigators have learned some of the hijackers visited Las Vegas, where they gambled and attended shows. The newspaper did not say which hijackers were in town or when.

Keller and FBI officials met twice Thursday to discuss ways Las Vegas police can assist in the investigation into the deadliest terrorist attack in the nation's history.

"They're asking for some assistance from patrol officers, but it's not going to be a shift in deployment or anything major," Lt. Vincent Cannito said.

Cannito said these patrol officers may check hotel registration records for the names of those the FBI has identified as hijackers and their associates.

Prior to learning this week of Atta's visits, local FBI agents already were pursuing several areas of inquiries.

According to Thursday interviews with those contacted by the FBI, agents questioned employees at local flight schools in the days immediately following the attack and are currently checking guest and billing records at local resorts.

But the most noteworthy information to surface from the local investigation involved Atta's two visits to the Econo Lodge. Motel employees said FBI agents on Monday collected records regarding those visits.

Those records show that Atta checked in for a two-night stay on June 29, leaving on July 1. He stayed in a room with one queen-size bed.

When he returned Aug. 13 for a one-night stay, Atta paid extra to stay in a room with two beds, motel clerks said. On both occasions, he paid with cash and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door of his room.

During both visits, he checked in with a Florida driver's license issued in May. The Coral Springs, Fla., address noted in motel records matches the address where news reports say Atta lived.

Though the motel staff typically photocopies the driver's license of cash-paying customers, Atta's identification wasn't copied during either stay.

Econo Lodge owner James Magar says he has frequent problems with the copier at the motel, and the machine likely wasn't working when Atta was there.

Desk clerk Elke Dreves checked Atta in during one of his visits. "I was looking at the face of evil and I didn't even know it," Dreves said.

FBI agents this week interviewed Dreves, Magar and several other employees who worked at the motel during Atta's stay. All said they could remember little to nothing about the man.

A night clerk who requested that his name not be used said late Wednesday that he was working while Atta was at the motel, but doesn't remember him.

"It caught us all by surprise," said the clerk, with whom agents had not spoken. "Who would've thought something so barbaric could've been connected with this place?"

Atta drove different cars to the motel during the two visits.

One was a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu with Nevada license plate 743 MPR. That car is registered to Alamo Rent A Car at McCarran International Airport.

Federal authorities had no comment on Atta's presence in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police Sgt. Mike Bunker said an officer stationed at the FBI's local office is participating in the investigation.

"We did know about it, and we are in fact working with the FBI on this," Bunker said.

The FBI also has contacted local gaming properties to see if names in their hotel and casino records can be matched to those of the hijackers and their associates.

MGM Mirage resorts searched their records for the names of the 19 original hijackers, and are continuing to process other names forwarded by law enforcement.

"I don't believe we had anything that matched what they were looking for," said Alan Feldman, a spokesman for the gaming company.

Lesley Pittman, a spokeswoman for Station Casinos Inc., said security officers at the company's properties also have recently been contacted by FBI agents. She would not elaborate.

FBI agents also met this week with the highest-ranking officers in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Police Department.

UNLV Police Chief Jose Elique said the conversation concerned the federal investigation into the terrorist attacks.

"What I would emphasize is that we do not know of any threat against the university or any individuals at the university," he said.

Nevada Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller said the FBI contacted board members last week to request assistance with the investigation.

"We're on a need-to-know basis with the FBI," said Siller, a former head of the local FBI office. "We're on heightened alert and any information that comes to our attention we'll forward to agents, but there hasn't been anything unusual since the attacks."

A source in the gaming industry said FBI agents and security officers at gaming properties have examined suspicious vehicles at the properties. They also are using the resorts' state-of-the-art surveillance technology to track who visited the properties while Atta was in town.

Several local flight schools said FBI agents visited them on the day after last week's attacks and asked to examine the names of students who had taken flying lessons. Agents appeared to be comparing the student lists with lists of suspects in the attacks, school officials said.

Lori Cook of First Flight Aviation, at the county-owned North Las Vegas Airport, said the FBI took files relating to about six students with Middle Eastern-sounding names. Cook said she didn't believe any of the students were Atta or others who have been identified as suspects.

Agents called with additional questions last week, Cook said. She said they did not call back this week, when information about Atta's Las Vegas visits surfaced.

At McCarran International Airport, Randall Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said the FBI has been at the airport on a regular basis since the terrorist attacks, checking safety procedures alongside Federal Aviation Administration officials.

"But I'm not aware of any credible evidence of him (Atta) or others connected with the attacks being in the airport," Walker said. "Then again, they (FBI agents) probably wouldn't share it with us if they were investigating that."

Walker said the airport does not have surveillance equipment that videotapes travelers in the airport.

Cameras do record people as they go through the airport's metal detectors, but only so that a photograph can be printed of anyone who tries to run through without stopping. Those photos are not kept after airport security catches the evader.

The FBI is likely trying to answer several obvious questions that could help explain why Atta came to Las Vegas, said Leonard Weinberg, a terrorism expert and professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"Did he try to rent a plane?" Weinberg said. "Where did he go? Who did he visit and did they go to any particular places? Did they stroll around Hoover Dam, the airport? How long did he spend at the airport coming or going, strolling up and down the terminals?"

Weinberg cautioned that without knowing the evidence the FBI has gathered regarding Atta's Las Vegas visits, one can only make educated guesses about his intentions.

But he said like most major American cities, Las Vegas should be viewed by authorities as a legitimate terrorist target.

"It has a number of targets that are potentially attractive to a terrorist," Weinberg said. "The hotels on the Strip are symbols of American decadence."

Weinberg said other potential targets could feasibly include Hoover Dam, the Nevada Test Site or Nellis Air Force Base.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she was surprised to learn that Atta traveled to Nevada.

"I'm confident the FBI in Las Vegas will move with all deliberate speed to find out what he was doing in Las Vegas and find out if he was recruiting other people here," Berkley said late Thursday night. "Who knows? He could have been looking at the Stratosphere as a target, or he could have been looking at it as a tourist. We really don't know, do we?"

Regarding Atta's stay, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he wasn't surprised that the nation's worst terrorist attack has at least indirect ties to the city.

"Las Vegas has been a hideaway for a lot of bad guys over the years," Goodman said. "He is just one of many. He may be the worst."

Review-Journal writer Michael Squires contributed to this report.