Dancer suspected of stealing $40K in watches

Las Vegas Review-journal

An exotic dancer is facing grand larceny and burglary charges in the theft of two luxury watches worth about $40,000 from a man whom she drove home from a Las Vegas strip club.

Jennifer Tapia Alvarado, 24, had worked as an entertainer at Spearmint Rhino, 3340 S. Highland Dr., where the alleged victim met with her on Aug. 25, according to a warrant declaration filed by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Tapia Alvarado and the man, who was not named by police, had known each other previously but were casual friends and never intimate, police stated in the court document.

After exchanging text messages with Tapia Alvarado, whom the man knew as “Hazel,” he met her at the valet area of the club at about 4:15 a.m. and the woman agreed to drive the man in his car to his residence since he was intoxicated, according to the document.

The pair arrived at his home at around 5 a.m., had some alcoholic drinks and he invited her to stay the night, to which she agreed and they went into his master bedroom to sleep but did not have sexual relations, police stated in the document.

The man had been wearing a Rolex luxury watch which he placed on the bedside table along with $800 in cash before going to sleep, based on the document.

When he woke up, the watch and currency were still next to him, but Tapia Alvarado had left without saying goodbye, which the man considered suspicious, police stated in the filing.

He looked into a box where he kept watches inside a closet and saw that it was missing two Rolex timepieces, a two-tone gold and silver “Bluesy” and a submariner “Starbucks” model, together worth $40,000, according to the declaration.

The man made some phone calls to Tapia Alvarado and sent her several text messages demanding his property be returned but she had blocked him on her phone, and so he contacted police, the document stated.

Over the next couple of months, a Las Vegas police detective traced Tapia Alvarado’s whereabouts through pings on her mobile phone from Dallas-ft. Worth, Texas, obtained a warrant to search records from the rideshare service Uber and succeeded in documenting her movements at the club and the man’s home on Aug. 25, according to the document.

The Clark County district attorney’s office filed charges of grand larceny of from $25,000 to under $100,000 and residential burglary, a warrant for Tapia Alvarado’s arrest was issued and she was taken into custody on Jan. 9, according to Las Vegas Justice Court and booking records.

She was released on her own recognizance and is due in court Feb. 22, court records show.