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Las Vegas hotel worker accused of starting fire, lying about assault

Las Vegas police on Wednesday arrested a woman accused of starting a fire at the Strip hotel she worked at and lying about being sexually assaulted in one of the rooms.

Aviaon Lee, 28, was arrested on felony charges of first-degree arson, burglary with deadly weapon, destroy or injure property of another over $5,000, obstruction of extinguishment of fire, and misdemeanors of willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons or property and false reporting of a crime, according to a Metropolitan Police Department release.

Police said Lee’s “motive for the sexual assault allegation was monetary gain.” Police said Lee, who worked for the hotel at the time, started the fire in a hotel room.

On Feb. 5, Clark County firefighters and police responded to the Excalibur after a person was reported injured during an assault and fire at the hotel.

Days later, Las Vegas police announced investigators found no evidence a sexual assault happened in connection with the fire. From there, Clark County continued with the arson investigation.

Contact Dalton LaFerney at dlaferney@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0288. Follow @daltonlaferney on Twitter.

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