Vegas hotel operations manager accused of stealing $773K through bogus refund accounts

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former operations manager at a Las Vegas Strip resort is facing 15 felony charges alleging he siphoned more than $773,000 in hotel refunds into a personal account that he used for luxury shopping, expensive dinners, spa treatments and private jet flights.

Brandon Rashaad Johnson, 38, of Las Vegas remained jailed Friday following his arrest Sept. 1 in a scheme that lasted more than a year, according to Clark County Detention Center records and a police report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The arrest report was not immediately available Friday to The Associated Press.

Johnson was identified as a former manager at the Aria Resort & Casino, an upscale 4,000-room property operated by MGM Resorts International. Company spokesperson Brian Ahern declined to comment Friday about Johnson’s case.

Johnson’s defense attorneys, Michael Becker and Seth Strickland, did not respond Friday to text, telephone and email messages.

Johnson is due for a court hearing Monday to demonstrate for a Las Vegas judge the source of money he would use to post $100,000 bail and be released with GPS monitoring ahead of a preliminary hearing of evidence or an indictment.

The charges against him include theft, a computer crime and money laundering.

Johnson quit his job in July, after a coworker noticed that Johnson was buying expensive things and notified hotel officials who launched an investigation, the Review-Journal reported.

Police said that, from July 2022 to July 2023, Johnson directed 209 refunds to a checking account and spent large amounts of money at stores including Louis Vuitton and Versace.