Prostitution suspect accused of stealing $90K cash from tourist

A Las Vegas tourist had $90,000 in cash stolen from his hotel room by a suspected prostitute on the July Fourth weekend, police said.

Law enforcement documents show Talisha Ferguson, 22, of Las Vegas, was arrested Monday on suspicion of grand larceny more than $25,000 but less than $100,000, suspicion of soliciting an act of prostitution, and loitering. A Las Vegas police arrest report for Ferguson said she was apprehended in the theft of $90,000 cash from a man at the Westgate, 3000 Paradise Road.

The victim told police he was headed to Arizona to buy a house when he stopped in Las Vegas on July 4.

“He told officers he contacted a girl who had an advertisement posted on a website, picked her up and brought her back to his room at the Westgate,” police said.

During the rendezvous, the man bragged to the woman he was toting a lot of cash. They agreed he would pay her $100 for sex.

“During the conversation (he) told the female he had ninety thousand in cash in his hotel room for the purchase of the home,” police wrote.

The woman asked if she could see the cash “because she had never seen that much money in person.”

The man pulled the money out from a brown paper bag and showed it to her. They then had sex. Afterward, the woman said she had stomach pain and went to the restroom. The man, meanwhile, fell asleep for hours, the report said.

“After getting up, he did not see the female in his room and noticed the brown paper bag was moved,” it said. “(He) checked the bag and the money was missing.”

The victim called police. Detectives inspected video surveillance footage showing the couple arriving at the hotel and the woman leaving the man’s room sometime later with a purse that is “heavier than when she arrived.” The woman is observed leaving “at a fast pace” to a Lincoln Navigator.

The man could not pick Ferguson out of a photo lineup, but police said they identified her based on the video evidence.

“Through investigative means, like prostitution advertisements and the use of her phone number on multiple Las Vegas Metropolitan Department events, Ferguson was identified through facial features and video surveillance footage obtained from the Westgate Casino,” police said.

A police investigator posed as a John and sent Ferguson a text message seeking sex in exchange for money. She showed up at a meeting place and was arrested, police said in the report.

Police interviewed Ferguson, who acknowledged being at the Westgate and in the man’s hotel room but added that “I didn’t steal his money.”

There was no reference in the police report to whether the victim’s cash was recovered or if anyone else was arrested.

A criminal complaint in the case has not been filed. Ferguson is scheduled for a 72-hour hearing Thursday in Las Vegas Justice Court.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.