A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer is accused of using his own credit cards to buy tens of thousands of dollars in gift cards and luxury goods, then claiming the cards were stolen so banks would reverse the charges while he kept the merchandise. Antonio Chavez, 28, has not been convicted. The charges against him remain allegations. According to an official LVMPD press release issued Sept.
9, 2026, Officer Antonio Chavez was arrested that day and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of theft valued between $25,000 and $100,000, four counts of burglary of a business, and perjury. The department said Chavez has worked for LVMPD since 2020 and was assigned to the Community Safety Division in Northwest Area Command. He was placed on suspension of police powers without pay pending further investigation. The department’s initial statement listed the charges and little else.
Local newsrooms later obtained an investigative warrant and criminal complaint that describe what prosecutors say happened. Investigators allege Chavez and his wife, Claudia Guzman-Marquez, 30, ran what an arrest report called a “friendly fraud” chargeback scheme between May 25 and Aug. 3, 2026. According to that report, they bought gift cards and luxury items, including Louis Vuitton handbags, Apple electronics, and designer clothing, on their own cards, then falsely reported the cards stolen to obtain refunds while keeping the goods.
Warrant documents reviewed by local stations say they also claimed wallets and purses had been stolen. A third person in California is alleged to have taken part. Guzman-Marquez faces the same core charges, plus conspiracy counts also listed against Chavez in the warrant paperwork. Both are presumed innocent.
The alleged purchases were not small. On May 25, the same day Chavez reported that a fanny pack holding his credit cards was stolen while he sat outside eating lunch, investigators say a single purchase of more than $8,000 posted to his Discover card. American Express and Discover records cited in the warrant show each card used for more than $8,000 in gift cards. An attempted Royal Caribbean cruise purchase of $6,953.26 was declined.
Guzman-Marquez is alleged to have spent more than $8,000 at a Newport Beach, California, shopping mall. Investigators say the pair targeted gift card kiosks and businesses at Town Square Las Vegas and Downtown Summerlin, then used some gift cards for personal purchases such as clothing. How the case started matters. News3 reported that LVMPD opened the investigation in June 2026 after the security director at Town Square Las Vegas reported a large gift card purchase.
Detectives subpoenaed credit card records, compared them with store video, still photographs, witnesses, and cell-site data, and concluded the couple was at the locations of the transactions they later denied. The warrant states that Chavez claimed his card was stolen before a gift card purchase, but stills, photographs, and witnesses have him purchasing the gift cards at Town Square. Store employees grew suspicious. Surveillance, not an internal ethics complaint, is what local reporting says first put investigators on the trail.
The perjury count is tied to sworn paperwork, not a courtroom lie during a criminal trial. Investigators allege Chavez and Guzman-Marquez signed false dispute affidavits through online Zoom notarizations. They also allege Chavez filed a police report with the Henderson Police Department that contained false information so a credit card company would see that a theft report existed. If proven, that would mean an LVMPD officer is accused of feeding a neighboring agency a fabricated crime report to cash out a bank dispute.
That allegation has not been tested in court. At a Sept. 10 appearance before Judge Rebecca Saxe, a prosecutor said Chavez admitted conspiring with his wife and a person in California and argued, “He knew better. He knows what the law is, and he knows that he violated the law willfully because he wanted to enrich himself and his family.” Prosecutors sought $100,000 cash bail, a source hearing on any posted money, and house arrest.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich said Chavez is 28, has no criminal history, and has no failures to appear. The judge called the charges personally offensive but nonviolent, denied cash bail, ordered electronic monitoring, and restricted Chavez to Clark County. Guzman-Marquez, described in court as six months pregnant, was released with a GPS-tracking phone and ordered to remain in the Las Vegas area. A preliminary hearing is set for Oct.
- Public records also show another side of Chavez’s file. In 2023, LVMPD named him among a large group of officers awarded the Unit Medal of Valor at the department’s Best of the Badge honors for a hostage incident in a crowded shopping center. That award is documented in department recognition lists.
No public record reviewed for this report shows a prior formal discipline case against this officer. That absence is not proof of a clean internal history. It is only what is available now. Several accountability questions remain unanswered.
LVMPD has not publicly said whether Chavez kept full police powers between the June start of the criminal inquiry and the Sept. 9 arrest. The department’s own press release omitted the alleged scheme, the Henderson report, and the family co-defendant. Those details reached the public only after newsrooms obtained charging documents. Whether Internal Affairs ran a parallel case before the booking, and why an alleged false report to Henderson did not produce an earlier public statement, are facts the department has not addressed.
Chavez is accused, not convicted. The state still has to prove every count. The next test of the evidence is the Oct. 8 preliminary hearing.
