Former wedding chapel owner to plead guilty in printer theft

Cheryl Luell, the former owner of the rogue Las Vegas Garden of Love wedding chapel, was back before an official body Friday, this time to agree to plead guilty to trying to steal an expensive printer.

She's scheduled to enter her plea May 20 to one count of attempted grand larceny. She also agreed to pay $16,755 in restitution.

Prosecutors will not recommend a sentence, but Luell could face prison time, Deputy District Attorney Ravi Bawa said.

According to prosecutors, Luell tried to buy the printer in August from Fernando Padilla, a vendor from California who was an exhibitor at a convention at the Sands Expo Center.

They couldn't agree on a price, but that didn't stop Luell from later wheeling the printer and other equipment to her vehicle, authorities said. A video camera captured her and a man loading the equipment into her vehicle.

The $20,000 printer was a specialized machine capable of printing images on T-shirts. Some of the stolen equipment was found dumped near San Bernardino, Calif., according to Bawa.

Charges against the man in the video, Jesse Daniels, one of the chapel's former employees, were dismissed because prosecutors couldn't establish that he knew the items were stolen.

These events unfolded about the same time that the brouhaha surrounding the Garden of Love wedding chapel was approaching its final act.

Competing chapel owners had complained for years about unsavory business tactics used by the Garden of Love, which was owned by Luell and her husband, Craig. Most of the activity was concentrated at the marriage bureau in downtown Las Vegas, where Garden of Love employees reportedly harassed and even attacked rival chapel workers to monopolize the stream of couples seeking wedding licenses.

After a lengthy hearing in October, the Las Vegas City Council called the chapel a "public nuisance" and revoked the Luells' business license.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.