Phillip Frank Panzica should have wiped that grin off his face. After being caught in Las Vegas performing public sexual acts on the Vegas High Roller, he pled out to a 
misdemeanor charge and had scarcely returned to Texas before he was shot and killed in a carjacking. The vehicle belonged to Panzica’s fiancee, upon whom he had cheated in Vegas, and the alleged killers were apprehended only 30 miles from the scene of the crime. The unnamed fiancee was spared but Panzica caught five slugs from the carjackers, after being told “You have to come clean.” One of the two suspects, Bryant Christopher Watts, promptly ‘fessed up upon being caught. It’s time to amend a certain, overworked slogan to “What happens here sometimes has fatal consequences.”
* Late last week, the Orlando Business Journal reported that the Consumer Financial Bureau is investigating Westgate Resorts and has been since last 
September. The CFPB has requested documents from Westgate and Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli writes, “one thing we can firmly conclude is that the request for information from Westgate is abundant, so much so that Westgate contested the civil investigative demand … back in the 4Q15.” The CFPB is trying to “determine whether persons involved in the sale and financing of timeshares have engaged in, or are engaging in, act or practices” that would be in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Dodd-Frank.
Santarelli concludes that we should expect the investigation to be protracted and cause an “overhang” on the timeshare industry with consumers, thanks in part to “recent negative mainstream media coverage.” He also predicts heightened media scrutiny of the timeshare industry itself, so Las Vegas had better brace itself for a round of bad press.
* Las Vegas has a new tourist draw: medicinal marijuana. The Las Vegas Strip‘s first pot dispensary is open and the city’s well-heeled casino barons need not worry that it’s going to tarnish their image. The dispensary is located within city limits, north of pariah SLS Las Vegas and south of the Stratosphere. This may not be the cure-all for increasing north Strip foot traffic but it’s a stimulant. It’s called Essence and its owner is Armen Yemenidjian. Any relation to Alex? The Los Angeles Times ain’t telling but how many Yemenidjians could there be in Las Vegas? (Alex and I crossed paths recently, having blood samples drawn at Quest Diagnostics.) Armen is relying upon tourists for as much as 90% of his business, thanks to reciprocity agreements between California and Nevada whereby the Golden and Silver states honor each other’s medicinal marijuana cards. “Patients can cook with cannabis-infused butter, munch on a coconut macaroon laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana or simply smoke a joint made with potent cannabis flower,” reports the LAT, which says Essence has a growing plot near the Strip, too, with the idea of eventually making it a tourist attraction. That would take Vegas visitation to a new high.
