The widow of a man who died of a fentanyl overdose after being robbed by a sex worker in a Las Vegas Strip resort has sued the owners of the hotel.
Jeffrey Jacoby, 55, was found dead in March 2023 after meeting a woman named Cheylee Kessee - who was operating as a sex worker - at a hotel bar in the Venetian and Palazzo.
After withdrawing $1,000 from a cash point and going with Kessee to his hotel room, Jacoby was found dead after his wife asked the hotel to perform a welfare check when she didn’t hear from him in several hours.
Jennifer Jacoby has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against hotel owners Venetian Casino Resort LLC, alleging that security should have alerted her husband that he was being followed by Glass - who has a history of “targeting hotel guests to rob and victimize them”.
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The court documents say that Jacoby, a Colorado resident, was in Las Vegas for a work conference when he met Kessee at the hotel bar shortly after 1am on March 1.
The pair walked around the hotel for around 40 minutes, with Kessee keeping in contact with Kashon Glass, who the lawsuit says was acting as her “pimp”. After the pair withdrew the money from the cashier’s cage area, they returned to Jacoby’s room at around 2:30am.
Surveillance footage in the hotel showed Glass watching the interaction, chief deputy district attorney Michael Schwartzer said in an indictment hearing in 2023. In the text messages, Glass asked Kessee why she was taking so long in Jacoby’s hotel room, Schwartzer said.
“She tells Mr. Glass to chill and that she’s having him smoke right now,” Schwartzer said according to Las Vegas Review Journal.
Kessee left Jacoby’s room around eight minutes after entering, the lawsuit alleges. She was accused of leaving the room with Jacoby’s phone, wallet and $1,000 from the room as he died of a fentanyl overdose.
Jennifer later called the hotel to request a welfare check before Jacoby was found by a worker “unresponsive, slumped on the bathroom floor,” the complaint said.
Kessee was arrested by Metropolitan Police Department vice detectives in possession of fentanyl - with texts between her and Glass showing they were planning another robbery, Schwartzer said. Glass was arrested in possession of fentanyl.
Casino operators should have been able to identify Glass and Kessee because of their history of carrying out such robberies, and therefore been able to alert Jacoby before he was given the fentanyl, the lawsuit claims.
Jennifer and her three daughters are named as the plaintiffs, while Venetian Casino Resort, Venetian Las Vegas Gaming, and Pioneer OpCo, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, are listed as the defendants.
Glass and Kessee were charged with multiple crimes including murder charges, and were accused of giving Jacoby a lethal dose of fentanyl. They pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, robbery with use of a deadly weapon and burglary, District Court records show - pleas which they agreed to in exchange for other cases being dismissed.
Nevada Department of Corrections records show that Glass is serving a 50-year sentence at High Desert State Prison near Las Vegas and will only be eligible for parole after 20 years. Kessee is serving a 20-year sentence in Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center and will be eligible for parole after eight years.
