LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 56-year-old man was accused Wednesday of stealing $85,000 dollars from his ex-girlfriend in 2022 when he drove away in her rental car while she was in the store, Las Vegas police said.
According to an arrest warrant, the victim received a check for almost $100,000 through a settlement from a lawsuit against a weed control product company. The victim told police that she cashed the check in July 2022.
The victim told police that she kept the money in two manila folders inside her home. She told police that she did not deposit it immediately because her funds were going to be withheld for approximately 10 days and she “could not” wait.
According to the document, she told police that her ex-boyfriend, William Chase, 56, was in town visiting her and knew about the money she was going to receive.
She told police that she had loaned out some of the money to friends and family and was going to deposit the remaining bills worth approximately $85,000. The victim told police that she put the folders containing the money into a black backpack and put the bag in the trunk of her rental car on Aug. 3, 2022.
She told police that Chase was “aware” there was money in the bag because he was there while she packed it, documents said. She told police she planned to deposit it, but for unknown reasons, never did.
According to the document, at around 9 p.m., the victim and Chase stopped at a Walmart on Tropicana Avenue to meet up with the victim’s niece. The victim and her niece went inside the store, and when they came out, the vehicle and Chase were both gone.
The victim told police that she left the vehicle running and that she had “trusted [Chase] to stay in the car with the money in the trunk,” the document stated.
The rental car was found the next day near Tropicana Avenue and Koval Lane. The victim told police that all of Chase’s belongings were still in the car and that the only thing missing was the backpack containing the money.
According to the document, the victim was later told by a friend in Colorado that they had seen Chase driving around in a “newer” vehicle and had told him that he had won money gambling in Las Vegas.
Through a records check, police found that a Dodge Challenger was registered to Chase in Colorado five days after the alleged theft.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrested Chase on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, over a year after the alleged theft. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on a $50,000 bail.
Chase faces a felony charge of grand larceny of more than $25,000 but less than $100,000. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.
