3 West Wendover casino workers charged with embezzlement
ELKO — Three West Wendover women appeared last week in Elko Justice Court on charges alleging they conspired to steal money from a West Wendover casino about a year ago.
Erika Collazo Rodriguez, 36, and Maria A. Gonzales, 49, were each charged with embezzlement and theft by conversion — both category “D” felonies — and a gross misdemeanor count of conspiracy to embezzle and/or theft.
Maria E. Hernandez Perez, 51, was charged with one count of gross misdemeanor conspiracy to embezzle and/or theft.
According to court documents, a report from a Nevada Gaming Control officer stated the women were employed as cage cashiers at the Wendover Nugget Casino when the casino’s controller contacted Elko’s gaming enforcement officer on April 28, 2023, to report a theft by an employee.
Thefts were alleged to have occurred on eight days between April 14 and April 29, 2023.
The gaming officer said a pattern emerged from reviewing the surveillance video.
“One subject would approach the casino cage and present cash or a cash equivalent to their co-conspirator who was working as a cashier at the cage window,” he said. “(It) appeared whenever money was stolen, the subjects would split it evenly amongst themselves.”
A statement from the Nugget’s surveillance operator described watching footage from April 22, 2023, that recorded Collazo Rodriguez receiving several racks of $1 white chips totaling $2,608 and counting the chips multiple times. She then signed what’s referred to as a soft count transfer slip for $1,608, according to court records.
Later that day, Gonzales gave Collazo Rodriguez $1,005 for a slot voucher written for 50 cents, according to court records.
Additional surveillance video from that day showed Collazo Rodriguez entering the employee locker room and dividing money and placing it into two lockers, according to the court records.
About 90 minutes later, Gonzales entered the locker room, where she divided cash and placed it in one of the lockers Collazo Rodriguez used earlier and a third locker, according to court records.
On April 29, 2023, the gaming officer interviewed Collazo Rodriguez and reported the interview concluded with Collazo Rodriguez “confessing to five thefts totaling $2,205,” according to court records.
Gonzales was later interviewed by the officer with a translator present. She confessed “to four or five thefts based on her recollection of past events totaling $1,225,” according to court records.
During the officer’s interview with Collazo Rodriguez, she admitted that she and Gonzales came up with the plan “because it seemed easy.”
Gonzales agreed with Collazo Rodriguez’s statement to the officer that the plan seemed “easy,” adding she and Collazo Rodriguez believed they “wouldn’t get caught or thought about the consequences,” according to court records.
The gaming officer reported Hernandez Perez was found to be “playing more of a minor role compared to Collazo and Gonzales,” according to court records.
Hernandez Perez was interviewed by the enforcement officer and “insisted she was innocent.” Questioned further, she “claimed all the money that was illicitly exchanged was to pay for lunches that were purchased on her behalf by Collazo and/or Gonzales,” according to court records.
The gaming officer’s report was submitted Jan. 19 to the Elko County district attorney’s office. A criminal complaint was filed March 19 in Elko Justice Court.
After the women’s court appearance May 1 before Justice of the Peace Randall Soderquist, they were each booked in Elko County Jail and released.
Soderquist ordered Collazo Rodriguez, Gonzales and Hernandez Perez each to be appointed an Elko County Public Defender for their preliminary hearings, scheduled for May 15.