A Strip resort employee purposely sparked a blaze in a hotel room earlier this month and then fabricated a story about being sexually assaulted, Metro Police announced today.
Aviaon Lee, 28, was motivated by money, said police in announcing that she was jailed Tuesday on counts of arson, burglary, destroying other’s property, disregard for safety, false report of a crime and obstruction of the extinguishment of a fire, Clark County Detention Center records show.
Damage at the Excalibur following the Feb. 5 incident was estimated at nearly $600,000, police said.
About 11 a.m. that day, Clark County Fire Department crews rushed to the resort, 3850 Las Vegas Blvd. South, about 11 a.m. to find a mattress engulfed in flames and Lee inside the room.
Lee was taken to a hospital and Metro officers began a manhunt for the supposed suspect. Police announced two days later that no sexual assault had taken place and that the fire was being probed as an arson.
An FBI-led task force took Lee into custody near McCarran International Airport, police said. Further details were not immediately available.