NYE in Vegas/Caesar's Palace - thief went in our room while we slept and took $460

[JETFIRE714]

I just got back from the worse Vegas trip that I can recall.

We got into Caesar's right before midnight on 12/30. Checked in and got settled in by 12:15 AM. Bellhop delivers our luggage between 12:30 AM and 12:45 AM and we gave him a $20 tip from my wife's wallet and the wallet was placed at the foot of the bed. At around 1:20 AM my mom goes down to the casino and doesn't return until 6:46 AM. My dad leaves the room at 2:09 AM and proceeds down to the casino. At 2:10 AM, there's an anomaly, someone scans the lock but does not enter the room (front desk said this was wierd and couldn't explain it). At this time my wife was still awake and made sure the door was closed, turns off all the light except for the one in the bathroom. At 3:13 my dad enters the room, gets ready for bed and plugs his iphone into an open outlet in the bathroom. I wake up at around 6:15 AM (I was the driver and fell asleep with my Submariner on my wrist)... I used the restroom and noticed that my wife's wallet was next to the sink. I thought it looked out of place but I didn't question it. At 6:46 AM I hear my mom scanning her room key and greet her. At 10 AM, I get a call from my wife asking if I had taken the $460 from he wallet. We searched everywhere in the room and could not find the cash and that's when I called Caesar's Palace Security.

They conducted their investigation and concluded that the door was left ajar from 3:13 AM to 6:46 AM. This means the door was either left open by using the deadbolt or the door may have appeared to be closed but did not actually close. I tested the door to see if I could make it stay open but everytime, the automatic locking mechanism would lock the door.

Apparently their locks are fairly sophisticated as it can tell when someone scans the key card, if they entered from the outside, if somone from inside exited the room and if the door is left open. Security and the front desk has something called the LOCK INTERROGATION REPORT, which is a log for all of these occurrences. They would not provide me with a copy. They stated that the last thing on the log was the door being left ajar at 3:13 AM and my mom enetering at 6:46 AM.

I suppose it was the perfect storm, the automatic locking mechanism failed to work and we had a thief/doorpusher go into our room while we were asleep, locate the wallet at the foot of the bed and empty out the cash in the bathroom.

We are lucky it was only $460 dollars and we are safe. What if one of my family members had woken up during the theft. If the thief had only looked at the table, he or she could have taken my wife's Rolex Datejust and wedding ring and we would have been down north of $22k.

JP

[037]

Interesting. Sorry to hear this happened.

Was the $460 in cash the only thing stolen from the wallet in your room? Were any credit or ID cards taken? Was the wallet the only item moved from its original location in the room?

[JETFIRE714]

Only the cash was missing, IDs and CCs were left.

[BigBoy17]

Get a police report. Have them look at the cameras. Prob an employee most likely.

[Dr.Brian]

That story doesn’t make sense. Some thief wouldn’t likely be able to randomly access your room unlocked room, go special forces night vision stealth to locate a wallet in a random location on the foot of the bed, then stealth it out magically, impossibly?, leaving the door ajar again yet completely unnoticed by you at 615 or your mother at 645.
Doesn’t add up. And why not take other valuables. You can sell an iphone, credit cards, etc.
Anyway, sorry that happened to you.

[RW16610]

I'm very sorry to hear this and hope you can somehow figure how exactly what happened or who did this.

[Chewbacca]

Crazy stuff.

[BigAppleBill]

Sorry to hear this. All the big hotels must have security cameras on every floor. If they were motivated, perhaps if the police got involved, they should be able to narrow down who may have entered your room.

[Blansky]

Sucks.

But you know the saying "whatever money you take to Vegas, stays in Vegas."

Hope they catch the guys.

[MSchu]

You won't get any help from hotel security... their MO is to deny and deflect responsibilities to the patron. Thankfully it wasn't more than 420$, as many thefts are much worse.

Hmm... 420$, are you sure you d idnt smoke your monies worth?

[locutus49]

Hate to say it but it sounds like a family member may have done it.

[RHIII]

Glad that everyone is ok. What do the cameras show? They (especially in Vegas) have cameras EVERYWHERE and can tell VERY quickly who went in and out of the room.

My wife and I were at a larger resort hotel a cpl years ago - and when we left to head home I immediately remembered I left a Peter Miller vest in the room - and my wife called the hotel within say 15 mins of us leaving — not a huge expense maybe a couple hundred dollars - and it had already disappeared. Short of the long story the Security team looked at the footage - found who removed it from the room - dealt with them accordingly and refunded me the cost of the vest.

Should be an open and closed case.

[CashGap]

Sniff test, failed.

[fusionstorm]

Spidey sense is tingling something fierce!

[.brian.]

Originally Posted by MSchu

You won't get any help from hotel security... their MO is to deny and deflect responsibilities to the patron. Thankfully it wasn't more than 420$, as many thefts are much worse.

Hmm... 420$, are you sure you d idnt smoke your monies worth?

Maybe you have been a little too much.

He said $460, not $420

[Tri-Tip]

A friend of mine had a watch stolen at a Vegas hotel a few years back, don't recall which one, but it was one of the big ones.

They determined that he was fairly drunk, someone followed him back as if they were going to a room down the hall and when he went into his room and the door was closing, the guy slipped a piece of plastic or cardboard into the door jam to prevent the lock from engaging. Then waited a while until my friend was asleep (passed out?) came into the room and stole his watch.

[RobearH]

Ménage a trios un petit peu risqué.

[walds11]

Something is not adding up here. Hmmm...

[037]

I also should have asked if the $460 was in your wife's wallet at the time you tipped the bellhop. If so, was the bellhop able to see inside her wallet?

This is panning out to be a game of Clue.

[Jabbo84]

.....did someone bring a “ guest” back to the room. I hear cash is King in Vegas. Who was your dad with?

[77T]

Sorry to hear you lost the $460 - but agree with your conclusion that was a small loss compared to what might have happened. This is a puzzle for sure.

This doesn’t seem to be a hotel security failure if the door was never locked after 3:13am. I think that is a coincidence and not the root cause.

Doesn’t Caesar’s have video surveillance in their hotel hallways? Maybe ask them to scan that footage.



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[healer]

Just out of curiosity when you were talking to your mom and dad is there a faint of smile in there face? You sure you were not playing baccarat before you sleep? Just a question and I mean no harm;)

[Cesium137]

Originally Posted by walds11

Something is not adding up here. Hmmm...

[timepieceluvr]

Originally Posted by 77T

Sorry to hear you lost the $460 - but agree with your conclusion that was a small loss compared to what might have happened. This is a puzzle for sure.

This doesn’t seem to be a hotel security failure if the door was never locked after 3:13am. I think that is a coincidence and not the root cause.

Doesn’t Caesar’s have video surveillance in their hotel hallways? Maybe ask them to scan that footage.



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100% they have video


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[EEpro]

I lose $460 every time I go to Caesars. Sorry that happened to you.

[dba]

Originally Posted by locutus49

Hate to say it but it sounds like a family member may have done it.

Originally Posted by CashGap

Sniff test, failed.

This. Next time, get your own room wherein you and you only control access.

[colpol]

Hopefully this doesn’t turn into another post like the guy a few days ago who posted a pic of his kids watch

The OPs told us his story & been called out that it’s a fishy story or someone in his family’s a thief.

Just sayin

[Burlington]

Have the police been to fingerprint the purse ?

[MSchu]

You know... I hear about these middle of the night while sleeping robberies more often than I should. It appears that access to rooms isn't really as secure as they should be.

[JETFIRE714]

First and foremost, I just want everyone to be aware and be careful the next time you travel to Vegas or stay at any hotel. Use your deadbolt, we started using ours after the incident and valid key cards will bink yellow or red if the deadbolt is on.

As for my family, I traveled with my retired parents, my wife and my kids (elementary-aged and down). I'm going to give my parents the benefit of the doubt since I've been taking Vegas trips with them since I was a kid (over 30+ years). We've been to trips to the East Coast, WDW, Bahamas and so on and no cash has ever gone missing as it did this past Tuesday. Some people may have parents that are shady and take their cash, not mine.

If Caesar's security report had been clean and concluded that all the doors were locked, then there would have been a higher probability that one of the family members did it. However, their investigation was completed and they concluded that our door was left ajar from 3 AM to 7 AM. This tells me there was an opportunity for someone to make entry and empty the cash from my wife's wallet.

Why not take the other stuff? If the perp was caught with my wife's cards or my dad's iPhone, those would have been easier to trace back to us than a wad of $20s.

The room was dark but with the bathroom lights and bathroom door slightly on, you could. My wife and I think that the perp probably expected just 1 or 2 retired people sleeping in the room. Not a whole family. So they quickly saw the wallet, took the cash and left.

LOCK INTERROGATION REPORT - I dealt with Caesar's Security and they were very vague and did not want to talk about security procedures as it was proprietary. A lot of I can't tell you if there were cameras there or what the lock log says. Upon completion of their report, the would not talk to me and that I would have to talk with the Front Desk. The Front Desk told me that the lock interrogation report would take 72 hours to obtain. I kept complaining and I got a call from one of the Managers, she said she spoke with the investigator and was willing to go over the log but I could not get a copy of it. It would have to be subpoenaed by law enforcement. I had to take her word at face value as they would not share the report with me.

Per the Manager, there were no logs between 3 am and 7 am. If the lock says the door is ajar, why doesn't security do a welfare check? If it was ajar then why was it closed when I woke up at 6 am and when my mom entered the room at 6:46 am. Say if it were ajar and then closed, there should have been an entry in the log. I don't know if I will ever find out. Caesar's Palace doesn't want to talk with me.

The room - It was in the Julius tower, second to the last room next to the exit. If I went into through the exit doors, it looked like some sort of service corridor and emergency stairwell, going through the second set of exit doors took us to the Forum Tower elevator bank. After the incident, we were moved to the Palace Tower, one of the newer rooms and I noticed more cameras.

The bellhop - When I deal with bellhops I just have them put the bags towards the entrance/bathroom area and get out. My dad let this guy in and he moved quickly and put some of our bags next to the TV which is in the middle / the space between the 2 queen beds. I just don't want them to see our stuff. He made small talk with my dad.. mentioned he was part-time.. after my Dad mentioned that the rooms were far from the elevator, he says I'll show you a trick, go through the exit, pass the stairs and corridor and it will take you to the Forum Tower elevator bank..he saw us get the tip from my wife's wallet, from his view is it a wad of $20s or could it be $100s?

We suspect he may have had something to do with it and I was hoping there would be something in the log but I may not know. I talked to an officer on the strip as we waited for a countdown, he mentioned that Security may want to keep it in-house.

In the grand scheme of things, $460 is nothing to Caesar's Security or Metro PD. What pisses me off the most is the thought that someone went into our room, while we slept and stole from us. I've been going to Vegas for over 30 years and this is the first time I've had cash stolen.

We could have been assaulted or worse. The loss could have been more significant. Perhaps if we did get assaulted or maybe if we lost $25k then Security and Metro PD would have been more proactive.

In the end, we are safe, only down $460 in cash. They moved us to a better/safer tower for the remainder of the trip and added $100 in food/beverage credits to the room.

Luckily he didn't get my wife's ring or these:

rol by jetfire714, on Flickr
Be safe and have a Happy New Year...

JP