Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Man nabbed in EDC counterfeit wristband scheme was security official

Electric Daisy Carnival

Attendees dance to the beat at Kinetic Field during the Electric Daisy Carnival at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 26, 2011.

The assistant director of security for the Electric Daisy Carnival was one of two men arrested in an alleged scheme to produce and sell counterfeit show wristbands, according to an arrest report released Wednesday.

The alleged scheme unraveled when a friend at a printing business called Meelo Solis, an employee of Insomniac LLC, the event’s organizer, and told him about the rumored plan, the arrest report states.

That conversation and subsequent investigation by Metro Police led to the arrests of Aaron Hernandez, 37, and Pathomrat Kunawongse, 35, both of California.

As assistant director of security for the EDC, Hernandez had access to the wristband design on June 19, officials said. He allegedly met with Kunawongse that day at Aliante Station and gave him a paper with an image of the guest wristband to be used for the event, according to the arrest report.

The apparent agreement was this:

Kunawongse was supposed to find a printer to make fraudulent wristbands and have someone sell 5,000 at $200 apiece for a profit of $1 million. Hernandez, in turn, would get a 25 percent cut of the profit, according to details in the arrest report.

When the image made it to the printer, however, an unidentified man tipped off his friend at Insomniac LLC because he didn't want to be involved in illegal activity.

Insomniac LLC officials then told a small group of people, including Hernandez, about the alleged fraudulent wristband scheme, according to the arrest report. Hernandez then passed the information to Kunawongse, who canceled the order for the fraudulent wristbands, police said.

Police arrested Kunawongse during a staged meeting Friday with Solis at the Cosmopolitan. Hernandez was later arrested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the EDC.

Both suspects allegedly confessed to their involvement in the scheme, according to the arrest reports.

“Hernandez stated that he was sorry and that he knows what he did was stupid” but did so to earn extra money for his home, police wrote in the report.

Kunawongse was charged with burglary, attempting to obtain money under false pretenses, possession of stolen property, attempted forgery and conspiracy to commit a crime. Hernandez was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses, attempted forgery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

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