Security detain attempted kidnapping suspect at Las Vegas hotel
Las Vegas NV February 29 2020
A 35-year-old man was arrested last week after he was accused of attempting to kidnap a 10-year-old girl at a Strip casino.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were called about 7:40 p.m. Feb. 17 after a report of an attempted kidnapping at the Planet Hollywood Resort, 3667 Las Vegas Blvd. South, according to an arrest report.
Security officers at the casino reported that a man had “attempted to take a juvenile.”
Security officers at the casino detained Leeland Rayburn Jr., 35, before police arrived.
He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted kidnapping of a minor, which is a felony, court records show.
A woman told police she was inside Planet Hollywood Resort with her family — a 15-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl — when a man “observed her family and then singled out and approached her ten year old,” the report said.
The woman said the man was “saying something under his breath” when he started walking toward her and the children, which prompted the woman to move the girl to the other side of her body, the report said. Then, “suddenly and without warning,” the man “maneuvered behind” the woman and placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder.
The man attempted to lead the girl away, but the woman pushed him, breaking his grasp on the girl, the report said.
After the woman pushed him, the man “proceeded to direct himself toward another family with infants in a group of strollers,” which “caused a commotion” in the casino, the report said. A security officer told police he witnessed Rayburn touch one of the strollers, but that family was gone by the time police arrived.
Rayburn has a lengthy arrest history in Clark County dating back to 2004, according to Las Vegas Justice Court records, although prosecutors have dismissed numerous cases including charges of vagrancy, disorderly conduct, obstructive use of a public sidewalk and trespassing.
In January 2005, he pleaded guilty to three gross misdemeanor theft charges. In June 2016 he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of battery with substantial bodily harm after spitting on an officer while incarcerated at the Las Vegas Detention Center, and in October 2017 he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy to commit larceny charge, court records show.
At the time of his Feb. 17 arrest, Rayburn had two other active cases in Las Vegas Justice Court. The week prior to his arrest, Rayburn was arrested on suspicion of trespassing.
On Tuesday he pleaded guilty in another case to a misdemeanor battery charge. On Feb. 18, he was released from Clark County Detention Center on his own recognizance, but was arrested again two days later on suspicion of destroying the property of another, court records show.
He was released again on his own recognizance on Feb. 21. A status check in the attempted kidnapping case is scheduled for March 17.
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