Las Vegas Dotty’s Casino Bomb Threat Used to Create Diversion, Police Say

Posted on: November 15, 2021, 09:25h. 

Last updated on: November 15, 2021, 05:22h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More

Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A Las Vegas man accused of telling police a bomb had been planted at a Dotty’s Casino on Decatur Boulevard Wednesday was allegedly trying to distract them from his theft of a golf cart.

According to his arrest report, Scott Wesolaski, 31, called Metro police at 1:46 am while pursued by the golf cart’s unnamed owner.

On receiving the anonymous call, officers were dispatched to the slots parlor, but could find no evidence of explosives in or around the building.

Police did a check on the phone number that called in the threat, and Wesolaski’s name popped up. That’s when officers noticed the suspect was already in custody.

Shortly beforehand, Metro police had received a report about a missing golf cart. The owner had called police back to say he had located the man who had stolen it and was following him.

And it seems Wesolaski’s choice of vehicle, with top speeds of between 12 and 14mph, had been no match for the Metro response unit.

Golf Cart Plan Backfires

Wesolaski admitted in an interview his phone number had been the one used in the hoax bomb threat. But he initially denied making the call himself. He said earlier that day he had given his phone to a stranger who told him he needed to make an urgent call.

But police were eventually able to extract a confession. Wesolaski explained he had dialed in the hoax to create a smokescreen in a bid to ensure his escape in the small, stolen vehicle.

If found guilty on the bomb threat charge alone, he faces between one and six years in prison and a potential fine of up to $5,000.

String of Hoaxes

Wesolaski’s ill-judged escape plan is the latest in a string of fake bomb threats targeting casinos. In May, a Florida woman admitted making a threat to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa.

Adele Belizaire, 54, said she had been motivated to do this because she had lost $380 on the casino’s slot machines. She told police she had “anger issues.”

Florida’s penalties are even stiffer than Nevada’s. Belizaire faces up to 15 years in prison, plus a maximum $10,000 fine for her moment of madness.

Last month, a former security guard at the Presque Isle Downs Casino, Norman Antuzzi, was sent to prison for one to six months after phoning in a bomb threat apparently to impress a woman he liked, a disgruntled bartender.

According to court documents, the woman thought he had been joking when he divulged his plan, and she agreed, in jest, that he should go through with it.