Weapons, poison, even bodies can turn up in Las Vegas hotel rooms

After the Las Vegas Strip shooting, questions remain about how the shooter smuggled an arsenal of weapons into a hotel room over a week’s time.

But the gunman isn’t the only person to exploit the privacy that comes with a hotel room in the Las Vegas Valley.

Take the case of Thomas J. Carrillo. In November 1999, Carrillo was found guilty of having stolen property.

Carrillo, then 33, had declined to have his room at the Rio cleaned for a week. At least 19 pieces of stolen luggage from McCarran International Airport eventually were recovered from Carrillo’s room by authorities, according to the Review-Journal.

He received a sentence of 24 to 60 months, plus about $8,000 in restitution.

Rio owner Caesars Entertainment Corp. declined to comment on the case or whether it led to any changes in how often rooms are checked.

McCarran spokeswoman Christine Crews said the airport revisits how it handles luggage theft from time to time but the airport doesn’t talk about anti-theft strategies publicly. She said she did not know if the Carrillo case specifically led to any changes at the airport.

No industry standard

There is no industrywide standard for how long hotels wait before trying to make contact with guests, Dick Hudak, founder of Florida-based Resort Security Consulting, previously told the Review-Journal.

He said 12 hours — a policy Wynn Resorts Ltd. implemented shortly after the shooting — is “too soon,” but he agreed that policies can vary based on the owner, the hotel and the guest.

In April 2001, a worker at the former Maxim hotel didn’t find the body of gambler David Sygnarski until at least two days after he died in his room.

Sygnarski, a 44-year-old from Easton, Pennsylvania, had been wrapped in garbage bags and stuffed under a bed in the hotel, according to Review-Journal reports at the time.

A jury sentenced prostitute Paulette “Sissy” Perry, now 50, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the stabbing death. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Grant, now 49, received a life sentence with parole eligibility after 40 years.

The independent Maxim, opened in 1977, became The Westin in 2003.

Bag of poison

In February 2008, an ambulance rushed a 57-year-old man in critical condition from the Extended Stay America hotel to a hospital.

About two weeks later, employees entered Roger Von Bergendorff’s room and found two .25-caliber semi-automatic pistols, a .22-caliber rifle and a .22-caliber pistol, each with a homemade silencer. Police detected no poison.

Days later, Bergendorff’s cousin Thomas Tholen, of Utah, found a plastic bag with powdered ricin and castor beans, which are used to make the poison.

Ricin can kill people within 36 hours depending on how and how much of it is received, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bergendorff pleaded guilty to federal charges that included possession of a biological toxin and possession of unregistered firearms. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison. The federal government released him in September 2011, according to federal records.

Tholen pleaded guilty in Utah to lying to authorities about whether his cousin ever mentioned ricin. Tholen received two years’ probation.

Comped rooms

The Las Vegas shooter isn’t the first story of someone with a comped room at a casino he or she intends to use to commit a crime.

In December 2010, Anthony Carleo, concealed by a motorcycle helmet, stole $1.5 million worth of chips at the Bellagio.

About two months later, authorities arrested Carleo after he sold 14 of the $25,000 chips to an undercover Las Vegas police officer.

Carleo had been living the high-life after the robbery, staying in a complimentary Bellagio suite and gambling with the casino’s own stolen chips.

He was at the casino every day from Jan. 19 through Jan. 26, and left it only eight to 10 times for short periods.

Representatives of Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International could not be reached for comment.

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.