Woman in High Roller tryst set to take plea deal

Chloe Scordianos, the woman caught on video having sex in the High Roller on her 21st birthday, has reached a deal with prosecutors, her lawyer said Monday.

Scordianos, of Hicksville, N.Y., initially wanted to take the felony charge of committing sex acts in public to a preliminary hearing, but she is expected to plead no contest to a misdemeanor on Tuesday, said defense lawyer Chris Rasmussen.

“Ms. Scordianos has learned that the phrase ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ is not always true,” Rasmussen said. “This plea will allow her to close this embarrassing chapter in her life and keep this salacious video private.”

The surveillance video police said caught the action on the Caesars Entertainment attraction at the Linq on the Las Vegas Strip has not been made public.

Rasmussen would not say what misdemeanor charge was part of Scordianos’ deal. She is not expected to appear in court for Tuesday’s hearing.

Her partner in the observation wheel affair, Philip Frank Panzica III, 27, 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 officer noticed the only passengers in Cabin 16, Panzica and Scordianos, smoking and undressing.

“The guests in Cabin 17 didn’t seem to notice, but the guests in Cabin 15 not only noticed but were video recording the acts” with their cellphones, according to court documents.

Linq security officers called Las Vegas police after the pair rejected two requests to end their tryst.

The 550-foot-diameter wheel with 28 cabins, each large enough to hold 40 people, didn’t stop rolling — it was in continual motion for the ride’s duration. At the end of the 30-minute ride the fully clothed tourists were pulled from the giant glass ball and taken to jail.

A criminal complaint alleges extensive nudity and sex acts on the world’s tallest observation wheel, which is billed as “The Happiest Half Hour in Vegas!”

It wasn’t the first time people have been spotted having sex in the all-glass cabins of the High Roller, which opened in 2014, the report stated. Police said there had been eight reports of indecent exposure on the attraction.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.