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twitter8 arrested in undercover operation at Hard Rock’s Rehab pool
Published Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 | 2:39 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 | 6:23 p.m.
Map of Hard Rock Pool
Hard Rock Pool
4455 Paradise Road, Las Vegas
UPDATED STORY: Regulators expand probe at Hard Rock’s Rehab pool
Detectives from Metro's vice and narcotics bureau and the special investigations section arrested eight people Sunday in an undercover operation at the Rehab Pool Party at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
The operation targeted narcotics and prostitution-related crimes, police said. It is part of an ongoing response to increased incidents of illicit activities at resort pools throughout the Las Vegas Valley, police said.
Seven of the people were arrested for alleged narcotics-related offenses and one for soliciting prostitution, police said.
The Hard Rock Hotel released a statement Tuesday evening saying it supports the efforts of Metro Police.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding these alleged activities. It's unfortunate that of the nearly 6,000 people who enjoyed themselves during the course of the day at Rehab, eight individuals engaged in conduct that resulted in their being arrested," according to the statement. "Hard Rock has worked with Metro in the past to develop security procedures for our pool party and will continue to fully cooperate with Metro going forward."
Those arrested at the Hard Rock Hotel include:
Roquito Santos, 25, of Alameda, Calif., arrested for sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell;
Rajaa A. Farah, 29,, of San Leandro, Calif., arrested for sale of a controlled substance;
Igor Alejandra Garrido, 30, of Hayward, Calif., arrested for conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substance Act;
Joshua Gilman, 29, of New York City, arrested for two counts of sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance;
Crystal Amlie Shields, 22, of Long Beach, Calif., arrested for sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell;
Heather Erickson, 21, of Long Beach, Calif., arrested for sale of a controlled substance;
Robert Baldwin, 27, of New York, arrested for sale of a controlled substance;
Nancy Veley, 24, of North Las Vegas, arrested for soliciting prostitution.
Metro also has cracked down on illicit activities at other pools this summer.
The Rio voluntarily closed its now-defunct Sapphire Pool on July 25 after Metro Police arrested 11 people on drug and prostitution charges.
Prive, a nightclub at Planet Hollywood, had its liquor license stripped and was forced to close in early August. The Clark County Commission, acting as the county's Liquor and Licensing Board, allowed Prive to reopen on a temporary permit.
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Sounds like I missed a fun week-end at Rehab..
and they call it "Rehab" because ???
Was convicted pimp Ron McZeal involved in this raid?
Anyone notice...
Five from the Los Angeles area?
Unreal. The LA gangs just love bangin in Las Vegas.
Californication has ruined this once-great state of Nevada.
The term Rehab makes the assumption that a person was actually habilitated to begin with. I'm not so sure that is the case. Perhaps they should simply change the name to "Hab".
Ds_Gentle_Master..... AR E YOU SERIOUS?????
good choice chance that most of the people are from California. Where do you think most of your business comes from. People like you never complain about people from Calif. come and leave there money here. Especially the "Hollywood set" that gives the clubs and restaurant good publicity.
and how come you did not mention where the one prostitute was from? Here in our good ole hometown.
People like you make the rest of us in Vegas look like uneducated fools.
what a bunch of knuckle heads..Time to close Rehab for the season.. DO you get cited if u pee in pool.. I might try that or drop a dookie in the pool.
Another ridiculous waste of police time and taxpayer money.
--------------------------------
Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com
They seem more like cesspool parties.
Felix28,
North Las Vegas is not Las Vegas... two separate cities.
You look like an uneducated fool.
Anyway,
Does this really surprise anyone?
John Ensign values spreading across the valley.
Bad example from a lousy senator
These are not gang bangers - they are just druggies that never read the newspaper. If they had they would know that Metro is in the middle of a campaign against vice at hotel pools...such as the Rio only last month.
What a waste. The first photo is of very pretty girl who obviously could amount to much more - if only she would quit hanging out with druggie dead-enders.
Unless Clark County is trying to lure the next mega-church backed bible college, they'd be better off letting what happens in Vegas attractions, stay in Vegas attractions.
Vegas is not just about gambling. It's about freedom. Let freedom ring!
Otherwise I might as well hit the boats in Kansas City.
This is all legal now in Mexico. Time for the visitors to head to Cabo or Cancun. Drugs, sex, booze and gambling with no police problems and the Cartels protect their own hotels.
@ DCThomas
Do you want freedom or anarchy? What these people were doing is still illegal in this community. If you have a problem with the laws then challenge the legislature and not the police who were rightfully doing their job.
You obviously don't understand what freedom means. Freedom was never intended to represent a status void of all rules and laws. Freedon, however, has always stood for your right to do what you want, but to take responsibility for your consequences. These people had the freedom to choose to sell, buy, use drugs and prostitute themselves, but they also must live with their consequenses; whether that be jail time or fines.
They should be required to watch Obama's speech 1000 times. However, that might be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
i must have been stoned watching PARTY AT REHAB on cable.based on the mug shots, it's skanks serving skanks. not skanks serviving the beautiful people like i thought. who wants to party. ewwwwww-- me smokum piece pipe at home
Las Vegas has overbuilt itself on a broken business model: Cheap credit and free spending tourists with overvalued houses to use as ATM machines. The managements of these now struggling behemoth properties will not stop dointg whatever it takes to keep the cash flowing. Why don't we embrace the future instead of decrying it? One word: Amsterdam!
b and t what's that got to do with the situation at hand. nobody gives a hoot about pot and booty just don't be a corporate name that promotes good ole rock and roll for the kiddies while turning a blind eye on the real dough from ugly low level drug dealers,thugs losers etc. comparing amsterdam and vegas-is like.......(help me someone)
I doubt they close the pool area. It's a reality show on True TV.
im surprised that Metro is going to such extremes; they can arrest half of the friggin town if they put their mind to it.
morons.
the cops are ALL OVER this town looking for stuff.
Nancy is one ugly hooker. Who would pay that broad to have sex. She needs a face overhaul.
We won't be going near any Vegas pools on future visits, if we visit at all, when will Metro be conducting search/arrests at the Palms? lotsa, lotsa playboy Slors and other prostitutes,(and i was so worried about H1N1 flu!) Many murdered employees and wierd customers like oj simpson and michael jackson, The Maloof brothers are all over 45, they go a long ways back, infamous now as wealthy, trashy vegas pimps.
on another serious note, is this what the residents of Nevada want, anything goes? if so don't complain about the people from california and change your laws to reflect tolerance for drugs and prostituton and then just deal with the aftermath, like i said there are already alot of trashy pimps operating on all levels in Vegas.
Whoopee, score one for the Mormon dough-boys of Metro. Big deal. Bobby Hatfield, Benny Binon, Ganns, Jackson etc. etc. The big shots don't get popped. I'm glad all the rapists, murderers and thieves have been caught.
If you get rid of all the substance abusers, pimps, johns, Ho's etc. Vegas will be a ghost town. Where does Metro think there going to get tax money after the tourist industry takes a bigger dump. Prostitution, drugs, and gambling are legal (or tolerated)at a number of international tourist spots. People will go elsewhere.
Also, since tourism is down, traffic is less, population is down or stagnant, more businesses closed, etc. we really don't need any more police. Metro should have a hiring freeze and lay off about 100 cops.
Comment removed by staff. Racist comment.
afveteran... sounds like most were white trash like you!
6,000 people in one day there...OOOHHH that sounds like so much fun! I've watched the TV show. Not sure what the attraction is. Is it getting to pay admission? Is it the probably way over priced alchoholic beverages? Is it getting to be around 6,000 others at the same pool? These pool parties and "exclusive" night clubs seem like a waste of time (and money) to me. But you have got to hand it to the marketing folks who pack them in the way they do. Maybe Metro will keep them locked up for awhile, we really don't need the drug dealing losers who were arrested back in California. We enjoy our trips to Las Vegas, But don't look for me at any of these trashy parties. I imagine they could have found more that eight if they had more troops on site.
the hard rock has zero tolerance? ya right, whores have had the run of that joint for more than a decade
If customers are spending all their money on drugs and ho's the casinos are loosing the revenue. Leave the money on the table or stay in your state. You can deal and ho there!
drugs sex and rock and roll, baby!! if you want to see what other option vegas has go up the interstate to salt lake city. when you enter the city limits you receive a complimentery copy of the book of mormons and a free lobotomy.
They tried to make me go to rehab - but I said NO, NO, NO!
go to any casino bar ( not the clubs, but the little bars around the perimeter ) on just about any night and there is almost always a hot girl wearing the 6 inch heels sitting by herself...she's not there for happy hour...hookers are everywhere.
stevem, you are right about that. the best time to see it all happening isabout 4:00=5:00am just before the cleaning people start vacuuming the casino floor!
how funny...within 5 years...all the restaurants and clubs and pools are going to be closed down...no nobody will ever come back to Vegas.
6000 people? Wow, thats a lot of peepee in the water :(
Let's go swimming, maude!!!!!
Boomer from Argentina
Nothing matters. And what if it did?
It wouldn't matter here. This is nowhere and going fast!
boomer
I'd say there is more than peepee in the water with this crowd; i've only seen previews of the reality show and I wouldn't go into a restroom after one of these participants uses it.
I'm just grateful there wasn't a drug sniffing dog there in the beginning from Metro...the poor thing would have died from sniffing that load..
Prostitution at the Hard Rock? Shame on this lady. Why doesn't she advertise on Craigslist with the rest of the hookers?
Personal attacks on commentators indicate a lack of general intelligence since most of them assume many wrong things and since most wrong things don't matter much on the subject at hand.
hello hello calling Gov.S. come get your trash from Las Vegas please go back to Cali please...
And this is new news???
it was the last rehab of the season anyway, the trutv reality show wrapped shooting that day, will be interesting to see if they show the arrests.
Whatever happened to that "Freedom Train" advertisement campaign which R&R came up with?? It was hilarious from the get-go...and this is exactly why. The marketing geniuses promoted Las Vegas as Party Central but it was all hype. It's not an adult playground...it only looks and acts like one. I loved watching Rehab's cable show--but I knew it was just a matter of time before the crackdown began. What were they thinking?? (Kudos to Metro for going against the industry and regaining control.) "What Happens in Las Vegas"...blah, blah, blah.
Viva Miami!!
OK, this is just getting ridiculous! Why the hell is Metro doing this? Are they trying to scare away the few tourists who still come here? Come on, this isn't supposed to be Utah! Leave the hookers alone and go after the real criminals. But wait, that would mean the police would actually have to work? Oh, noezz...
Kudos to Peter Morton for building quality, brand value with the Hard Rock.
Apparently, Morgan's does not "get" the Vegas customer experience delivery and marketing of such any more than Prive did, based on allegations against a now former executive and a reality-based marketing show about the Sunday ReHab pools event telecast each Tuesday late night on the TREN cable channel.
This weekly cable broadcast is produced by a company based in LA, NYC, and Sicily, having a very loose story line about ReHab Security and Food and Beverage Department operations during Rehab.
Cut ins and cut aways to and from advertisements feature close ups of a woman, or women's, rear ends shaking in a thong bikini. Both guests and staff. Class.
The loose story line around all the "scenery", which is what the production is really about, as in "we have the girls, we're the the place to be", seems to be using real Hard Rock employees.
The problems with this are two fold.
First, staff from Security and Food and Beverage departments, including Supervision, use language that is unacceptable and reflects on other properties and industry employees in a negative way.
Second, some of their telecast response-actions to "contrived" complaints or problem calls at Rehab are in violation of gaming company policies. As well, most of the plot-drama inserted around video photography of young girls in bikinis (which is not very good lens work, I might add) is teenage level drama and conflict.
Morton understood the brand, Morgan's has much to learn, and I am sure other operators and the gaming commission will make sure they become fast learners.
Oh!, what a skagg
The Hard Rock thing is only unus ex pluribus. I noticed that there are people being admitted to the pool that are obviously not even hotel guests, although it's clearly written: Hotel Guests only. They way it works is simple: The people only gotta know the pool attendant or security guy checking at the entrance and giving access to these people. There, big business can be made and these people involved get their palm greased. I was at the Hard Rock Hotel the other day when 2 super pretty ladies just exited the pool and were heading directly to the parking lot. It was clear they were locals and no hotel guests at all. Whatever the mission of them was to go to the Hard Rock Pool, it was obvious...
To smmarize: Wherever there are tourists with money in their pockets, seeking fun, there are people trying to get a piece of that money, wheather it's legal or not. The artificial waiting lines in front of the "hip" Vegas night clubs that can be avoided by "taking care" of the security guy watching the door is one example, selling your sexy body directly on the poolside to some action-seeking tourists is a different way. The Vegas Strip has turned to a commercial place where gaming is no longer the only obbject. People became creative to suck out money from the tourists by doing all sort of crazy stuff. I prefer the locals casinos, because there I get what I paid for. And some more.
From Switzerland
Anyone who has ever watched any of these reality shows knows they are scripted. My guess is theproducton company has an open call every week during the filmngof this and obviously, some of the bimbos that show up also do other work besides appearing as an extra in a reality show. Metro had to findout about what was going on by someone on the inside, maybe even a Hard Rock employee.also Hard Rock most likely has nothing to do with the actual filming, they are just providing their name for advertising.
sorry atdleft = you can still have adult fun in Vegas and not break the law.
Prohibition hasn't worked and never will, short of floggings & beheadings. Legalize & regulate both marijuana & prostitution -- allowing Metro & the courts to focus resources on hard drugs, underage or coerced prostitution, and violent criminals. Let's focus on the violent crime going on, near-depression economy, struggling educational system, and healthcare shortfalls -- not marijuana & hookers.
like this doesn't go on day to day in a bar casino. wherever there is testosterone and hormones or flesh and skin, expect hedonism.
i bet the undercover guys love to get hit on.
When the charges are ultimately reduced or dismissed, how do these poor schmucks get vindication after having their faces published like this? What's going on with Vice? Is this campaign really about cleaning up Vegas nightclubs and pool parties? Why do we need to know WHO EXACTLY is accused of what? It's like a modern day version of the Scarlet Letter, and it's just one more LVMPD abuse of power. What if these people were your friends, or your children? People make mistakes, especially in the Vegas "happens here/stays here" climate created through city and casino maketing campaigns. Who gave these self-righteous cops the go-ahead to publicize this garbage?