Police in Las Vegas have arrested a woman for deceiving a casino employee into handing over $750,000 in cash after posing as the property’s lawyer. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Police have arrested a woman involved in the theft of more than $750,000 from a Las Vegas casino last year. Officers apprehended Rosa Barria over the weekend on a theft charge for allegedly deceiving a casino employee to hand over the large sum of cash. The 36-year-old will have a preliminary hearing on August 20 and her bail is $30,000.

called the cashier cage at the Sam’s Town casino posing as the property’s lawyer

The incident in question took place in June 2023 when someone called the cashier cage at the Sam’s Town casino posing as the property’s lawyer and requesting a cash payment of $750,000. The staff member was directed by text message and brought the money to a business in North Las Vegas, where they were met by two people, including the person posing as the lawyer, and she handed over the cash.

After going back to the casino, she told a supervisor that she had potentially fallen victim to a scam, which sparked an investigation. Law enforcement came across a similar type of theft a few months after the Sam’s Town incident, in which Barria allegedly told two accomplices to collect a package of money.

This type of scam has happened at other casinos across the country in recent years, including one where an employee at the Circa Hotel & Casino gave a fraudster more than $1m in cash. The culprit eventually got a year in prison for his transgressions in that instance.