Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sex, jealousy, heroin and child are ingredients in Las Vegas man’s arrest

Gary Casupang

Gary Casupang

The 59-year-old man was waiting in the car with a baby while the baby’s mother spoke to a drug dealer.

Then, Metro Police said in an arrest report released today, jealousy took over, setting in motion an hour that included kidnapping and threats and ended with the woman’s house on fire.

Metro Police arrested Gary Casupang, 59, Las Vegas, on Tuesday after a fire at 6920 Brier Creek Lane, near Grand Teton Drive and North Rainbow Boulevard. Casupang was booked into Clark County Detention Center. Prosecutors today filed three kidnapping-related charges along with an extortion charge against Casupang.

According to the arrest report, two hours before the fire Casupang picked up the 22-year-old woman and her baby from the home to meet a heroin dealer. The woman told police Casupang was not her boyfriend, but he often paid for sex and wanted to be her boyfriend.

When the woman went to speak with a dealer, she left the child in the car with Casupang. While waiting for the mother’s return, Casupang became angry and drove away. He threatened via a text message to drop the baby off at Child Protective Services, a police station or with the woman’s mother if she didn’t meet Casupang at a nearby intersection.

When the woman arrived, the woman told police, Casupang prevented her from getting her baby and forced her to get in the car’s front passenger seat. The two fought, and Casupang threatened her with an object he said was a Taser, the report said.

While the car was stopped at an intersection, the woman attempted to escape with her child, but Casupang caught up. They fought again, but this time, two homeless people with skateboards threatened Casupang and rescued the woman, the report said.

The woman called her mother to pick up her and the infant. When they returned home, the house was on fire and Casupang was in the yard trying to contain it with a water hose, the report said.

Three dogs and a parrot died in the fire, which also caused about $50,000 in damage to the home, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue officials said. Neighbors told fire investigators that a person had tossed an item into a bedroom window causing the house catch on fire.

Casupang, who remains jailed in the Clark County Detention Center without bail, denies any involvement in the fire. The fire remains under investigation by Las Vegas Fire & Rescue.

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