Vegas Undercover

We've been watching as undercover Las Vegas detectives catch suspected car thieves and pimps.

Lieutenant Dave Logue: Safety is the upmost importance to us. We want everyone to come back safe.

Now, after a ten-month investigation, the undercover fencing operation has ended.

Chris Woods: ...it's a government special.

It's time to round up the suspects.

Lt. Dave Logue briefs his officers...

Lt. Logue: Be on a heightened awareness with them please. Don’t let your guard down.

Teams of police will be fanning out across Las Vegas in search of 38 suspects who are accused of selling stolen goods to police. 

Some have left town—but they find many others. There was Christopher Woods....

Who sold guns to undercover officers.   He's brought to police headquarters—

Chris Hansen: Hey, Chris. Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. We're doing a story on a metro investigation.

Chris Woods: I don't want to talk to you sir.

Chris Hansen: That's you right? Don't you want to see it?

Chris Woods: No.

Chris Hansen: Okay alright. Well thanks for your time.

Christopher has pleaded not guilty.

Here comes Allison Hunt.

She's the single mom who sold a stolen car.

Chris Hansen: Hey Allison? Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. How you doing?

Allison Hunt: Not very good obviously.

Chris Hansen: Can you tell me what happened here?

Allison Hunt: I don't know what they're talking about. I have no idea.

Chris Hansen: Did you ever get involved with selling stolen items?

Allison Hunt: No. I don’t even know what this is about. I don’t go anywhere. I have a kid.

Chris Hansen: You've never even gone to a place to sell a stolen vehicle?

Allison Hunt: No.

Chris Hansen: You sure?

Allison Hunt: Yes.

Hansen: Can I show you something?

Allison Hunt: Uh-huh.

Chris Hansen: Is that you right there?

Allison Hunt: Yea. Hm-mmm.

With her memory refreshed...she admits trying to sell the car. She says a male friend who was staying with her asked her to sell it for him.

Chris Hansen: That's you right there, talking about driving around in a stolen vehicle.

Allison Hunt: I didn't know if it was or not. It was my friends, he said he wanted to sell it, I said I don't know.

She says the only way to get him out of the house was to go along.

Allison Hunt:  And he came over to my house and I couldn’t get rid of him. Couldn’t get rid of him.

Chris Hansen: So you decide to sell a stolen car for him?

Allison Hunt: I didn’t know if it was stolen or not. I didn't think it was. I didn't think anyone would do that to me. I have a kid.

Allison Hunt: I just wanted him out of my life. You don’t understand how bad this person was. He was a weirdo. He was walking around without his shirt on. Acting like he lived there.

Chris Hansen: But that doesn’t make it okay to sell a stolen car.

Allison Hunt: I know that. I didn’t know it was stolen, okay? I didn’t know that.

Chris Hansen: So you're a victim in all this.

Allison Hunt: Yea. Yea.

Chris Hansen: How would you describe the situation you're in right now?

Allison Hunt: Awful. Absolutely awful. I'd rather be dead then to be here right now. But I'd worry about how my kid would be raised and I am so sorry. And if there's anything I could to make up for it, I would be happy to.

Chris Hansen: Well, thanks for talking to us, good luck with everything.

Allison Hunt: Thanks. Thanks.

It turns these two suspects have already been arrested for other crimes.

Allison has pleaded not guilty.

Remember Rusty? 

Bryan Rusty King: The machine is scanning this every time.

He showed police how to print bogus hundred dollar bills. Police picked him days earlier on an outstanding drunk driving warrant. He has no idea anyone knows about his counterfeiting.

We were allowed into the jail to ask him some questions.

Chris Hansen: Hey Rusty, how are you? Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. Have a seat there...

Remember, he thinks he's here on a DUI—but police have allowed us to reveal we know all about his counterfeitng. He agrees to talk to me and at first, denies it.

Chris Hansen: Did you go to a storefront business and try to sell some counterfeit money?

Bryan Rusty King: No, I didn't go to one, No.

Chris Hansen: No.

Bryan Rusty King: I mean, I did go to a storefront business but I didn't try to sell anything to ‘em like counterfeit money, no.

Chris Hansen: And why did you go there?

Bryan Rusty King: Why did I go there?

Chris Hansen: Yeah.

Bryan Rusty King: Because they contacted me wantin' some information from me.

Chris Hansen: And what kind of information did they want?

Bryan Rusty King: About counterfeit money.

Chris Hansen: About counterfeit money?

Bryan Rusty King: Right.

Chris Hansen: So did you tell 'em anything?

Bryan Rusty King: Yes.

Video   Woman arrested after trying to sell a stolen car to cops Now she has to face questions from NBC’s Chris Hansen. Dateline NBC

Chris Hansen: And what did you tell 'em?

Bryan Rusty King: I just showed 'em what somebody had showed me

Chris Hansen: And what was that specifically?

Bryan Rusty King: Like how to do it.

Chris Hansen: How to do it. And do you know how to do counterfeit money?

Bryan Rusty King: No, I mean just from what I've read on the Internet and stuff.

For the first time, he's about to see evidence of his appearance inside the police sting. 

Chris Hansen: I have a videotape that I think you may wanna see. Can I play it for you?

Bryan Rusty King: Sure.

Chris Hansen: That's you right there... Now before this is all over, you produce a crisp $100 bill. And you basically tell 'em how to do it.  And then on top of that, how to pass this $100 bill.

Bryan Rusty King: You know—

Chris Hansen: How it works in casinos. How you can do it in convenience store.

Bryan Rusty King: Right.

Chris Hansen: How many of those $100 bills have you made over the years, Rusty?

Bryan Rusty King: Not many.

Chris Hansen: Not many?

Bryan Rusty King: No.

Chris Hansen: Well, that's not what you said here.

But Rusty now says he was just blowing smoke.

Chris Hansen: How much money in reality do you think you made?

Bryan Rusty King: Not jack shit.

Chris Hansen: Not jack—?

Bryan Rusty King: No. Seriously. 

Chris Hansen: No, give me a ballpark.  How much—

Bryan Rusty King: None. Nothin', probably. I mean I—I haven't passed it—passed any of 'em myself. And never would try because—I mean, honestly, to look at 'em, they don't—they don't really look that real.

But if they didn't look real, why did he say on hidden camera that he carries two wallets to tell the bills apart?

Rusty in front: That's why I carry two wallets on me. I got one that—that one's for real money...

Chris Hansen: Well, then how come you have one wallet for real money and one wallet for counterfeit money?

Bryan Rusty King: That's B.S. also.

Chris Hansen: There's a lot of B.S. floatin' around?

Bryan Rusty King: Yeah.

(laughs)

Bryan Rusty King: Well, that's what—

Chris Hansen: There's a whole lot of B.S. floatin' around here, Rusty.

Bryan Rusty King: There was a lotta B.S. floating around here.

Chris Hansen: So how would you characterize the situation that you're in now?  How would you describe it?

Bryan Rusty King: It's f*ckn disgusting.

Chris Hansen: Well, is there anything else you want folks to know about what happened here?

Bryan Rusty King: No.

Chris Hansen: Thanks for your time.

Bryan Rusty King: All right, thank you.

Rusty is charged with forgery in the third degree and has pleaded not guilty.

Remember Cheryl Miller, nickname 'Chevy'—she came into the storefront to sell stolen cars. 

She was recently locked up for passing bad checks...and like Rusty, doesn't know she was caught in a police sting.

Chris Hansen: Hey Cheryl?

Cheryl Miller: Hi.

Chris Hansen: Chris Hansen. I'm with Dateline NBC.  How are you?

Cheryl Miller: Hi. Fine.

Chris Hansen: Would you like to have a seat?

Cheryl Miller: Not really, but I mean if I have to, yeah.

Chris Hansen: Well, you don't have to do anything... I wanted to ask you a couple questions about an investigation we're doing a story on.

Chris Hansen: Can I show you a videotape that I think you might like to see?

Cheryl Miller: Sure.

It doesn't take long for Cheryl to realize she's in trouble.

Chris Hansen: Did you think it might have been an undercover investigation?

Cheryl Miller: I did.

Chris Hansen: But you—

Cheryl Miller: I did. I did.

Chris Hansen: Did you help sell five vehicles and six—

Cheryl Miller: Yeah, I was there.

Chris Hansen: —guns?

Cheryl Miller: I helped. Yes.

Chris Hansen: Okay. So you're a part of the deals?

Cheryl Miller: Yes.

Chris Hansen: Does that make you just as guilty as the person who—

Cheryl Miller: Absolutely.

Chris Hansen:—stole the car or the gun?

Cheryl Miller: Absolutely.

Chris Hansen: How did you end in such a jam?

Cheryl Miller: Well, when you're beaten from the age of 3 1/2 until 14, you don't stand much of a chance. 

She claims a man she knew beat and sexually molested her.

Cheryl Miller: I got pregnant with his baby when I was 13. You know? Just one of those.

Chris Hansen: And so what he did to do you put you in a tough spot from the get go?

Cheryl Miller: From the age of 14, I was on the streets.

She says she has three children and had been strung out on crystal meth for years.

Chris Hansen: How do you break that cycle of crime? How do you finally get out of it?  I— I'm guessin'—that you don't wanna be here?

Cheryl Miller: You're askin' a 40-year-old woman who's not broke the cycle. Three children. Cared more about what I was doin' and— and the drugs and everything else more than I did my own children.

Chris Hansen: Is it in some ways a relief to be in jail and away from meth and that lifestyle?

Cheryl Miller: Yeah, it is. I'll have somewhere to sleep at night. My kids'll graduate 'cause they're not out with me.

Chris Hansen: And how are they doin'?

Video   An arrest of a suspected car thief Watch this man meet the strong arm of the law after trying to steal a police bait car. Dateline NBC

Cheryl Miller: Fabulous. Because I didn't raise 'em.

Chris Hansen: Do you talk to 'em at all or—?

Cheryl Miller: Nope. No.

Chris Hansen: How hard is that for you, you know, in these long stretches of sobriety in jail to officer with the fact that you don't have a relationship with your kids?

Cheryl Miller: It tears you up inside. 

Cheryl has pleaded not guilty. 

Stories like hers are not lost on Sheriff Doug Gillespie.

Chris Hansen: Do you ever feel sorry for a person like that?

Sheriff Doug Gillespie: You do. You know, you—you do. It doesn't make what they've done right by any stretch.

He says there are programs designed to help people like Cheryl.

In law enforcement we just don't look at it from the enforcement standpoint. We're lookin' from a prevention and education standpoint, as well. If you do become addicted, here are—services that are available to you. You know, you have programs in place to help—to help them change their way of life...Are there enough of those services?  No. Do we have to continue to—to work in that direction as well?  Yes.

Chris Hansen: When people see this investigation, and the unprecedented access, what do you think the takeaway should be?

Sheriff Gillespie: I think just reinforces—to the public—that we're just not out there driving around—that we are being proactive. We are being creative. And we are doing our level best—to keep this community safe.

And we'll continue to watch — close up — and undercover.

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