Caesars Palace Guests Robbed of $100K by Alleged Sex Worker, Police Say

Posted on: February 2, 2023, 08:25h. 

Last updated on: February 2, 2023, 12:34h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A Portland, Ore., woman is facing charges of grand larceny and possession of stolen property. That’s after police say she and a female accomplice stole $100K in cash, chips, and jewelry from a Caesars Palace hotel room. Taelar Durbin, 28, was arrested on January 25, just hours after she and her accomplice left the room with the loot.

Taelar Durbin, Caesars Palace
Taelar Durbin, above, and an unidentified accomplice are alleged to have emptied the safe at the Caesars Palace hotel suite. (Image: LVMPD)

The victim met the two women on the casino floor at Caesars in the early hours of the morning. They offered to give him a neck massage for $100, according to an arrest report seen by The Las Vegas Review-Journal. He agreed but complained afterward the experience wasn’t worth $100.

The women then offered to go to his hotel room and put their breasts in the faces of his two friends, whom he had mentioned were asleep upstairs, according to the report. Again, the victim agreed that this would be a good idea.

Safe Cleaned Out

When they got to the suite, the victim remained briefly in the living room while the two women entered the bedroom where his friends were sleeping. Then he returned to the casino floor.

The women got into bed with one of the men, the second victim, and began touching him. He told them he wasn’t interested and “shooed the females away,” according to the report. After this, the women went into the bathroom and stayed there for 10 minutes before they were asked to leave. Once they had gone, the second victim entered the bathroom to find the safe was open.

The women had taken a Rolex Submariner valued at $39K, a gold chain valued at $15K, $12K in cash, and $52K in casino chips, according to the report.

Security video showed the women entered the victims’ hotel room at 6:28 a.m. before exiting at 6:41 a.m.

‘Tropicana Nicole’

Police searched the phone number Durbin gave to the first victim and found it was linked to a CashApp account with the username “$TropicanaNicole.” A vice detective recognized the image in the profile as Durbin, who has been cited or arrested on suspicion of trespassing, prostitution, or loitering 20 times since 2015, according to Fox5 Las Vegas.

Later that day, investigators went to a gated community in central Las Vegas Valley, where they believed Durbin might be staying. As they approached, they saw her and a friend, Emmett Weathersby, in a red Mercedes, which sped off.

Eventually, the Mercedes returned to the property, and its two occupants were arrested. Inside the house, investigators found several firearms, $21,100 in Caesars gaming chips, and $31,600 in cash.

Weathersby was booked for possession of stolen goods and owning/possessing a gun by a prohibited person.

Durbin is due in court on April 27.