Large THEFT! Rio Hotel Las Vegas 6/29/07

[TheLoveDoctor]

Wouldn't this be the same as if someone stole your car from the parking garage while you were staying as a guest there? They wouldn't pay for your car.

[glimmertwin]

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No one has mentioned it yet, but Nevada Revised Statute 651.010 limits the liability of hotel owner for guest property stolen from a guestroom where a safe or vault is available. In that instance, in order to recover you would have to establish that the hotel is not just negligent but grossly negligent. That standard is tough to overcome.

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From that New York Times article somebody referred to:

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The matter of limiting innkeepers' liability goes far back in law. A cap on what an innkeeper must pay if travelers lose their belongings came about to protect those who provided shelter to people on the road -- a desirable situation in the view of public policy -- from being put out of business by visitors who sued after being robbed on the premises.

In the United States, every state and territory has a law limiting this liability, and each state requires that notices of this be posted in a particular way. No Federal law is involved.

Many of these limits were set in the last century, and inflation has made them out of date. In the last five years, some legislatures have been pushed by consumers into raising the limits.

John Hyland, a lawyer at Sherry & O'Neill in New York, which specializes in hotel law, gave some figures for the limits in states popular with tourists: New Jersey, $5,000; New York, $1,500; Florida, $1,000; California, $1,000; Nevada, $750, and Illinois, $500.


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Presumably, the Rio had their warnings mounted in two places -- on the safe, and on the back of the door. That way, even if one gets damaged or removed, there's always a back-up version. I would have thought this would be precisely to avoid claims of negligence on their part.

Also, if you *were* running an insurance scam, surely the first thing you'd do would be to peel the sticker off the safe that warns you against leaving large sums inside?

[PokeReader]

The laws governing negligence and cars are quite different, you have to do an amazing amount to qualify, whether storing, parking, or a repair shop. You have a few more rights in a hotel room, but it is not the same as putting your valuables in the cage.

There are many criminal rings in Vegas, some unsophisticated smash-and-grab, and some total professionals. Clearly, either this never happened, or was an individual with inside information. As far as we know, the Op informed at least his Casino host of his large cash stash in his room safe, and there are pros that have networks that supply them this type information for a cut, and there would be a number of people in that office who might have known this depending on the way they run their operation at the Rio.

However, what is most troubling to me, is that this professional criminal with a network that knows to call when this info is available, comes and cases the Op, and then jimmies the door, which makes no sense. Every pro has a electronic key card opener, and would have popped the door within moments. This idiot is then able to recode the safe, ( not hard, but harder than the door), drops the wraps, (no problem dropping something, thieves make a bigger mess than you would believe, it is just it doesn't make any sense to take it off, more likely to cause a problem, neater with the wrap, but shows the amount stolen nicely if taken off), and get out clean correctly avoiding security cameras, if we assume he was there, and I'll guess with no fingerprints. And this happened on the same morning as the chip theft, which was clearly an amateur. I believe also the Op said that crime took place first. I don't suppose anyone in the casino heard about it before his room was hit?

He may just be unlucky, but otherwise someone maybe intentionally setting him up. As I do not know him, I will not try to guess which possibility may be correct. I still believe that his best chance for the best settlement, (no one usually gets everything they want in the legal world), is to use publicity, however, if he was not truely robbed he would be running a risk here of further criminal liability. If he is clever, and perhaps his friends help, he could interest the media. As I was not present, and cannot be certain as to what has happened, I do not really feel I can give specific advice as to p.r. strategy. Sorry, once the police make a determination I will be happy to give more advice.

[Bulldog]

Consult a lawyer, seriously.

And who is the noob who made the page scroll horizontally?

[cutiepie]

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I saw some hidden-camera segment on 48 Hours or Dateline or some show where a guy went up to various front-desks in LV and was able to sweet-talk his way into getting them to give him a key to a room that wasn't his.

I think he got flat-out turned away for the key by just one place.
But other times they just looked at him, determined he looked pretty honest, and seemed to have no problem just giving him the key to the room that he claimed was his.

Another time I think they had security escort him up to the room which he says he's fine with.
So he walks into the room that isn't his, grabs the black suitcase in there and says, "Here's my suitcase" and the security says okay and leaves (on that one I think he claimed that his wife had his wallet so he had no ID on him).

These weren't rooms of total strangers though. They were rooms purchased by somebody else affiliated with the program and then his challenge was to try to sweet-talk his way into the room that wasn't his.

He made it look pretty damn easy on that hidden-camera segment.


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I watched that same segment and ...umm...oddly enough, the only hotel in town that did not allow the man to get the hotel key or be allowed access into the room, was the Rio.

How ironic.

The video archive of the segment should be on the Dateline NBC site. It aired in either late february or early march of this year.

[pariah]

This thread is an insult to the English language. More so than most threads on the web even. But I totally agree with that one poster, the principal matters and we should definitely get him on the Letterman show.

p.s. -- I love that you invited us all, multiple times, to check out your MySpace and then set your profile to private so nobody could actually view it anyway. WP.

[ne14dirt]

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You said you have played 20k-50k on the tables. I know losing 32k blows and it was stolen from your room but you seem to be pretty well off is it really that big of a deal?

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Really would love to ban you for such a stupid post.

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omg I was thinking the same thing. 32k.....not a big deal....ban him

I am going to make this very clear as this got way off track. My myspace is always been on private, I took it off private because people were asking me about the pictures from the scene, I took it off private so people without a myspace could view them. And I was accused of trying to market my website? I never once mentioned which website I own in any posts on here this is not what this is about. There is no question from the Rio that this didn't happen, they know it was clearly theft, there is no question from the C.S.I. investigator or the Police that it was clearly theft. I was playing poker at the time of the break in at the Amazon room anyway . The original post was to get opinions on what to do , not who did it. They got prints , they are doing an investigation, yet some are so concerned about me trying to market my myspace? You have got to be kidding. And name dropping? I hang out and play with the people on my front page and yes most are good friends of mine, there are many pictures of me playing with them live. Who cares that is so far from the point. I keep my page on private as most do because myspace gets hacked constantly. Like I have said so many times , that Allen Kessler who is my friend suggested I post on hear from advice , not have my integrity attacked by people that do not even know me. I stated the facts , I left my page open so people could view the crime scene photo's and then I put it back on private this evening. If you wish to view it just put in a request. The website that I own has nothing to do with this and I don't need negative publicity to promote it, it does well on it's own. Again I appreciate all of the positive feedback I have got from many of you and I will no longer talk about the case as I said before, except for what is already stated. Allen said this was a good place to get advice and I am sorry I am not the best speller in the world either my Goodness who cares I am not as educated as many of you I guess.. I never claimed to be anything but a fellow poker player but I guess I made a mistake coming to this forum which I was told was filled with great people to get some good advice.

Wish you all the best

-EF

[Bellagibro]

I hope it works out for you but seriously doubt it as Harrah's sucks ass.

[Arnold_O]

RakeKing, lot of immature idiots here -- children. i feel bad for your loss. if i knew who did it i would capture him, chain him to my basement wall and use a blow torch and pliers on him.