Colorado fugitive takes plea deal in connection with dramatic Vegas Strip casino standoff
By KEN RITTER
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A fugitive from Colorado who was arrested after a spectacular standoff last month that had furniture flying from a window at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip has taken a plea deal that is expected to send him to his home state to serve any prison sentence, his attorney said Thursday.
Matthew John Ermond Mannix, now 36, pleaded guilty to felony property destruction and misdemeanor negligence charges and has agreed to pay nearly $55,300 in restitution, attorney David Roger said.
The judge in Nevada could also fine Mannix up to $12,000 and sentence him to one-to-five years in prison concurrent with a 364-day jail term.
Prosecutors agreed to drop more serious felony kidnapping and coercion charges, according to court documents. A conviction in Nevada on the kidnapping charge can carry the possibility of life in prison.
Mannix is from Golden, Colorado. Roger said his client would be transferred after sentencing Sept. 28 to Colorado and serve his Nevada sentence with any prison time he gets on a probation warrant in a kidnapping case. Mannix remains jailed in Las Vegas on $750,000 bail.
“Mr. Mannix is very remorseful for his actions,” Roger told The Associated Press, “and he looks forward to tackling his drug addictions in the future.”
No one was seriously injured, and Mannix and a woman who was with him eventually surrendered July 11. The five-hour standoff had guests scurrying to evacuate a pool area as broken glass fluttered down from a 21st-floor window and items including chairs and a desk crashed to building rooftops below.
A prosecutor told a judge during a July 12 bail hearing that Mannix has criminal convictions in Colorado for kidnapping in 2022 and property damage in 2012, and that multiple people had court orders of protection against him.
Authorities had characterized the incident as a hostage standoff. Police said Mannix pulled the woman inside a room by force and claimed during the standoff that he had a gun. A folding knife was found after Mannix surrendered, but no gun.
Mannix identified the woman as his girlfriend, police said later. Although she had bruises and cuts on her legs and lower abdomen, she was not seriously injured, police said.
Police characterized Mannix and the woman as “clearly under the influence of narcotics and experiencing drug-induced paranoia” and said it appeared the two had “binged illegal narcotics for the past several days.”
No other injuries were reported during or after the standoff in the 29-story tower of the flagship Caesars Entertainment Inc. property at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. The tower is one of six at Caesars Palace, which has nearly 4,000 rooms.
Gambling continued uninterrupted in the casino, although guests, including an Associated Press reporter, said hotel security officers and police were visible in the valet area.
