He committed a high-profile crime against one of the biggest names in Las Vegas. Now, Ray Cuddy is out of prison. Why is the man behind the kidnapping of Steve Wynn’s daughter living in the town where the crime went down?
The I-Team’s Glen Meek located Cuddy, looking for answers about what he’s doing today and what happened all those years ago.
It is the first time the general public is seeing Cuddy in more than two decades. For a time in 1994, his picture was plastered on Las Vegas TV screens almost nightly.
Cuddy was convicted in connection with the kidnapping of Kevin Wynn – daughter of gaming mogul Steve Wynn. Though one of Cuddy’s two co-defendants copped a plea deal, Cuddy and an accomplice did not. That forced a public trial that put Steve and Kevin Wynn on the witness stand.
“A man’s voice came on the phone,” Steve Wynn testified during the trial.
“What did he say?” the prosecutor asked.
“He said, ‘Listen carefully. We have your daughter,’” Wynn replied.
“My father said to me, ‘Kevin, don’t worry. I’ll handle this. Don’t worry honey.’ I just said, ‘I love you dad.’ He said, ‘I love you too,’” Kevin testified.
Tom O’Connell was one of two government lawyers who prosecuted Cuddy.
“This case never should have gone to trial,” he said. “We specifically tried to plead the case so that the victims – both Kevin and her father – wouldn’t have to relive this horrendous experience.”
O’Connell finds Cuddy’s return to the city where he committed his crime curious.
“I think it’s unfair to the victims again. First, the crime, then the insistence on a trial, and now he elects to live in Las Vegas?” O’Connell said.
These days, Cuddy rides a Harley Davidson motorcycle and has been seen riding down the Strip, which takes him past Wynn’s resorts.
Meek found Cuddy in a public place and flagged him down to seek an interview.
“Can we chat with you?” Meek asked.
“What?” Cuddy replied.
“My name’s Glen Meek. I’m with 8 News NOW. I covered your trial many years ago. Can we talk with you?” Meek asked.
Cuddy drove away without responding.
Federal inmates are commonly discharged in the jurisdiction where they were convicted, unless they make arrangements with probation officials to have their supervised release transferred elsewhere.
Cuddy’s trial lawyer Mitchell Posin told the I-Team in February he didn’t think Cuddy had another place to go.
“It’s been a lot of years, and I don’t remember all of his family connections, but I remember he was pretty much on his own back then. So, I suspect it’s even more so now,” Posin said.
Cuddy, now 69 years old, remains in Las Vegas. Whether his supervised release will be transferred to another jurisdiction is unclear. He’s scheduled to be under supervision for 36 months.
At the time Cuddy went to prison, authorities were unable to account for approximately half a million dollars in ransom money.
Cuddy and his cohorts spent lavishly before their capture, and court records suggest he has very little financial means today.
The Wynn family declined to comment about Cuddy’s release to Las Vegas.
Debecker Investigations of Las Vegas contributed some of the images for this report.