Antonio Chavez

Introduction

Antonio Chavez is a 28-year-old Las Vegas police officer arrested in September 2026 and charged alongside his wife in an alleged credit-card fraud scheme that police say stretched from Las Vegas into California. Chavez and his wife, Claudia Guzman-Marquez, 30, face charges including theft of more than $25,000 but less than $100,000, burglary of a business, conspiracy to commit burglary and theft, and perjury, over accusations that the couple bought tens of thousands of dollars in luxury goods and gift cards and then reported the charges as fraudulent. The department said Chavez, an officer since 2020, has been suspended without pay. A judge released both from custody over prosecutors’ objections, ordering electronic monitoring ahead of an October preliminary hearing.

Background Information

Chavez joined the Metropolitan Police Department in 2020 and was assigned, at the time of his arrest, to the Community Safety Division in the Northwest Area Command, according to court records reported by News 3. The investigation that ended in their arrests began, police said, in June 2026, when Town Square Las Vegas’ security director reported a large gift-card purchase; investigators subpoenaed Chavez’s credit-card records and found repeated attempted large purchases, some denied as out of pattern. An arrest warrant cited by News 3 states Chavez claimed his cards had been stolen before the purchases — but “stills, photographs, and witnesses have him purchasing the gift cards … at Town Square.”

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from Las Vegas police arrest and warrant records, prosecutors’ statements in court and reporting on them, which allege the scheme and quote admissions prosecutors attribute to the couple. They were not admitted as charged in court — Chavez has not been reported to have entered a plea — and are not adjudicated. Chavez and Guzman-Marquez are charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent; his attorney says “he’s presumed innocent.”

Between May 25 and August 3, 2026, Chavez and Guzman-Marquez are accused of using their credit cards to buy expensive items and gift cards worth tens of thousands of dollars, then disputing the charges with the card companies while claiming their wallets and purses had been stolen, according to a warrant application by Metropolitan Police Detective Theodore Snodgrass. “Antonio Chavez and Claudia Guzman have intentionally used their credit cards to purchase expensive items and gift cards in the tens of thousands of dollars,” Snodgrass wrote. The couple allegedly bought more than $13,000 in gift cards from the Town Square Concierge on South Las Vegas Boulevard on May 25 before disputing the charges with Capital One and American Express; the arrest report also alleges Chavez disputed an Apple Store transaction of more than $1,200 after telling card companies his wallet had been stolen, and filed a police report with the Henderson Police Department containing false information to support the theft claim. News 3 reported that Chavez told investigators he was eating lunch when someone stole his fanny pack containing all his cards — then allegedly used a credit card that same day to buy more than $8,000 in gift cards. Guzman-Marquez is accused of matching purchases that day on Citibank and JPMorgan Chase cards — including two Louis Vuitton transactions totaling more than $11,000 — before disputing them. The alleged scheme reached California, where American Express charges disputed in June included $5,000 in gift cards bought at Fashion Island in Newport Beach; the gift cards were later spent, police said, at an automotive shop and an Aritzia store. Investigators wrote that when the couple called their banks to report fraud, they believe the calls were made by AI or by someone other than the two of them — while surveillance photos and video, witness statements and phone records placed Chavez and Guzman-Marquez at the alleged crime scenes. In court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Eckley Keach said Chavez admitted conspiring with his wife and “a third party in California” in a commercial fraud scheme targeting stores and credit card companies, and that Guzman-Marquez made similar admissions.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Keach asked Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Rebecca Saxe to hold Chavez on $100,000 cash bail with house arrest if posted, plus a hearing into the source of any bail money. “He knew better,” Keach said. “He knows what the law is and he knows that he violated the law willfully because he wanted to enrich himself and his family.” Saxe rejected the request, citing his lack of criminal history, community ties and the nonviolent charges, and ordered him released on mid-level electronic monitoring; Guzman-Marquez was released with a GPS tracker and ordered to stay in the Las Vegas area. Attorney Robert Draskovich told the court Chavez had “no criminal history whatsoever, no failures to appear,” had cooperated fully with investigators, and — invoking the presumption at the heart of the case — “he’s presumed innocent.” After the hearing, Draskovich said the defense and prosecutors were working toward an “equitable resolution.” The Police Department’s own response was swift: Chavez, on the force since 2020, was suspended without pay pending investigation.

Current Status

Chavez is charged but not convicted, free on electronic monitoring as the case heads to a preliminary hearing scheduled for October 8, 2026. He remains suspended without pay pending the department’s investigation. The reported push toward an “equitable resolution” suggests plea talks may be underway, but no plea had been entered as of September 15, 2026, and any resolution would require court approval. Prosecutors’ statement that Chavez admitted conspiring with “a third party in California” leaves that alleged participant’s identity — and any charges against them — unknown.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The charges land with particular weight for an officer: among them is perjury — an accusation that a police officer lied — alongside counts alleging he burglarized businesses, allegations that, if proven at trial, would end any policing career; if not proven, they still leave him suspended without pay while the case runs. The case also ensnared his family: his pregnant wife is a co-defendant facing the same core charges, released to GPS home monitoring, and a prosecutor called her “equally culpable.” All of the conduct described remains allegations — Chavez is charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent — but the practical fallout is already on the record: an officer off the force’s payroll, under electronic monitoring, facing felony counts and an October hearing that will shape whether the “equitable resolution” his attorney described becomes the ending of a career that began in 2020.