Police: Bellagio robber used cash on hookers, clothes

After saying he found a black bag filled with cash, the man charged with robbing the Bellagio Friday night blew through $10,000 on a room at the Hard Rock resort, shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and four hookers for “socializing,” according to his arrest report.

The man, who was not officially identified, denied he robbed the Bellagio at gunpoint of $43,500 cash and then told detectives he “was smoking too much I guess,” but wouldn’t say what he was smoking.

He told investigators his name was Scott Rice of Kansas, but police did not believe him because he had no official identification to support his claim. He was arrested Saturday night after a valley-wide manhunt and is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

The robbery happened about 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man walked up to a Bellagio cashier’s cage, pulled a gun out of his backpack and demanded money from a female clerk. The clerk later complained of chest pains and was checked out by paramedics, but was not taken to a hospital.

The man identified as John Doe on Saturday paid a tourist $300 to rent him a $400 room at the Hard Rock Hotel, according to his arrest report.

The tourist then notified police, who went to the resort located nearly two miles from the Bellagio. Investigators began to watch the room via security surveillance and soon detained for questioning four prostitutes who left the room, two of whom carried wads of cash bound by labels that read “Bellagio Count Team.”

The women told investigators the man in the room was acting paranoid, erratic and delusional. “One minute he was laughing hysterically and the next he was acting as if he felt claustrophobic in the room,” one of the women said.

According to the report, she described the man “as an average to unfortunate looking white male with an athletic build” and she said she was hired to “socialize” with him. The woman was later arrested for trespassing.

The woman said the man didn’t have many personal belongings in the room, but he did have a small amount of marijuana.

Police eventually searched the room and found $10,000 cash along with a BB gun that matched the description of the weapon used during the Bellagio robbery. Police also found the outfit that the robber wore, a black backpack, black Louis Vuitton shoes and high-end clothes, along with recent shopping receipts.

John Doe told investigators that the women were work-out buddies and he had taken them shopping. He said he had been at the Bellagio and found a bag of money in the parking lot of the casino. When detectives showed him a picture from Bellagio surveillance that was taken at the cashier’s cage, he said, “That’s me,” but denied involvement in the robbery.

While police were able to account for about $20,000 taken during the robbery, it remains unclear what happened to the rest of the cash.

Detectives believe John Doe is the same man who robbed a south valley City National Bank on July 22. The same BB gun, with an orange tip on the barrel, was used in both the Bellagio and bank robbery, police said.

Doe was set to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court Tuesday morning. He faces five counts, including one count each of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary with use of a deadly weapon and grand larceny and two counts of battery, jail records show.

Initially, Metro identified another man, Jesse Earl Jones, as a person of interest in the Bellagio robbery. Police made that identification because Jones’ fingerprints were found at the scene of a June robbery of a Bank of Nevada located in the south valley.

Metro officer Larry Hadfield said Monday that Jones remains a person of interest in the Bank of Nevada robbery, but not the Bellagio robbery. Court records show Jones has not been charged.

Contact Annalise Little at alittle@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0391. Find her on Twitter: @annaliselittle_.