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Woman charges on Facebook she was assaulted at XS pool

A Bay Area punk guitarist claims in a viral Facebook post she was sexually assaulted, handcuffed and humiliated at XS nightclub.

Laura Nichol, of the band Heartsounds, made these accusations in a July 11 post that was shared by 6,921 people and reacted to by 2,200 of her friends as of Sunday.

Nichol went to XS’s popular and wild “Nightswim” the night of July 10, with her boyfriend and his sister. Her allegations on Facebook:

■ A man cupped her butt while she was walking. She let that one go.

■ But in the XS pool, a man felt her chest, stomach and vagina, so she “let loose on him with my fists, yelling, ‘YOU JUST GRABBED MY VAGINA.’”

■ Female XS security was sympathetic, but a male guard cuffed her and took her and the man to “jail-like” cells where Las Vegas police treated her suspiciously, saying there was no footage of the alleged underwater assault.

■ A lifeguard claimed she danced with the man, but she said she didn’t dance with anyone: “THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE.”

■ She pressed charges, despite a police officer saying, “You could have easily said no to pressing charges.”

■ An angry police officer told her, “WOW. What a PEACH,” and she told a superior officer that was sexist, but he said, “That wasn’t a sexist comment and you’re being very confrontational … IT’S. NOT. A. SEXIST. COMMENT.”

■ Guards read her a trespassing clause, banning her for life from the Wynn-Encore resorts.

“I am humiliated, defeated and disillusioned,” Nichol wrote. “But beyond that, I (am) sad and scared for the many more girls that will go through the same thing because guys can so easily get away with this type of thing.”

Nichol didn’t comment when reached on Sunday other than saying she would be giving interviews to the media once she aligns with a lawyer in a week or so.

In a written statement Sunday, the Wynn says the resort takes safety and security seriously, and “both guests were actively involved in a physical altercation in a pool when our security reached them.”

The statement says the two were “separated, restrained and interviewed”; the Wynn contacted Las Vegas police; and any “investigation and prosecution of an assault rests with law enforcement and the courts.

“We have reached out to the female guest to offer whatever assistance we can,” the statement concludes.

A message was left early Sunday afternoon with Metro, asking for comment; no response was received by deadline.

GAMING ISN’T JUST POKEMON

This Monday through Friday, video gamers will be crowding into movie theaters at Santa Fe and South Point hotels to play custom “Minecraft” on the big screens.

Super League is a recreational league where teams play “Minecraft” for three hours a day on $100-per-person, five-day passes.

These “Minecraft” missions were built with advice from L.A.-based online gaming star CaptainSparklez, who will not be at Vegas theaters, but he told us he’s recorded voice-overs for the screens.

CaptainSparklez fully expects many “Minecraft” gamers to play and discuss their progress on America’s sudden fad game, “Pokemon Go.”

“Pokemon Go” is a GPS-phone game where you physically walk around real locations, looking at your phone, until a Pokemon pops up on the screen for you to try to capture it in a simple way.

CaptainSparklez is a “Pokemon Go” fan.

“It’s the antithesis of everything my parents would have expected about video games, just because it’s always been such a (cliche) — you’re sitting at home in front of your TV, zoning out on whatever game you’re playing, being sedentary,” CaptainSparklez said.

“This is the exact opposite of that,” he said. “It creates a cool new genre of games that get people up and about and doing things in the real world, interacting with other people.”

What does he make of reports of people walking off of cliffs and getting beaten up in public while playing “Pokemon Go?”

“When you have that many millions of people playing something, you’re bound to have incidents no matter what it is.”

SIGHTINGS

Singer/rapper Drake took friends to Liquid Pool Lounge in the Aria hotel on Saturday for 90 minutes of cocktails in cabanas. Then Saturday night, Drake and entourage ate in a private Lavo restaurant dining room.

Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds, a Las Vegan, took family to Andiron Steak &Sea in Downtown Summerlin for birthday dishes.

Rap legend Flavor Flav joined Jeremih onstage at Drai’s nightclub Saturday during Jeremih’s birthday celebration and performance. He turned 29 Sunday.

TV “Housewife” Bethenny Frankel and a friend ate spaghettini, French onion soup dumplings, yellowtail sashimi, and toast at The Cosmopolitan’s Beauty & Essex on Saturday. She posed for fan photos.

NBA heroes Isiah Thomas and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson played at Topgolf range Thursday night.

Comic Loni Love had a birthday party with friends at Tao nightclub in The Venetian after she performed in the hotel.

Doug Elfman can be reached at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. On Twitter: @VegasAnonymous

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