Two women in showgirl costumes face battery charges after a $20 tip outside Planet Hollywood turned into a physical clash with North Carolina tourists, police say.
On September 30, two visitors from North Carolina agreed to take photos with three women dressed as showgirls on the Las Vegas Strip. They handed over a $20 tip and tried to leave.
Breitbart News reported that the women then demanded more money, between $60 and $180. Police said the dispute escalated when the tourists refused.
Jennifer Ortiz allegedly hit one tourist and struck another in the forehead with her boot, leaving a cut. Magdellena Romero was also accused in the fight. Both were booked and taken to the Clark County Detention Center.
Footage described in local coverage showed the feather-clad women going after a man and a woman. One clip captured a strike to the woman’s face. The man’s shirt was torn off. Another angle appeared to show blood on his face as the confrontation continued.
Passersby and officers responded. The tourists were treated at the scene. They told police they wanted to press battery charges against the suspects.
A third woman with the costumed group did not strike anyone and tried to break up the fight, police said. One of the tourists later told officers she did not want charges against that third woman.
Ortiz was booked on battery and on obtaining money under false pretenses under $1,200. Romero was booked on battery. Both landed in the Clark County Detention Center after the Strip incident.
Ortiz claimed one of the tourists hit her first. Romero said she stepped in to intervene. Police still advanced the battery cases based on the tourists’ statements and the scene evidence described in reporting.
Street photo hustles are a familiar hazard for visitors along the Strip. In this case, a small tip became a larger cash demand, then a physical fight outside a major casino. The tourists came from North Carolina for a normal night out. They left with injuries serious enough for on-scene treatment and a decision to press charges.
Las Vegas built its brand on spectacle. History.com notes that the modern showgirl image took shape there in the postwar 1950s, when casinos paired the floor with lavish stage productions, and by the 1960s and 1970s the figure was inseparable from the city’s billboards and neon. Costume imitators on the sidewalk are a long way from that stage tradition.
What the booking sheet shows is simpler. Two women in showgirl dress allegedly pressed tourists for far more than the $20 already paid, then ended up accused of putting hands, and a boot, on them when the visitors walked away.
Tourists should be able to say no to a tip demand without catching a boot to the head. Order on the Strip is not optional entertainment.
