Hotel Cleaning Woman Accused of Stealing Phones

A cleaning employee at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem told police she could not afford to buy her daughter a cell phone, so she stole two of them from a hotel patron, according to court records.

Sandra Marrero, 39, who told police “she is a single mother who works very hard,” gave her daughter the less expensive $200 phone, telling her she found it.

Marrero, of 107 Ridge Ave., Allentown, admitted she brought the more expensive phone – a $700 iPhone – back to the hotel. But she threw it in the trash – although officials were able to recover it -- after her supervisor asked about the missing phones, the records say.

At one point, Marrero admitted to a hotel investigator that she gave the phone to her daughter. The investigator called the daughter, who said she would bring the phone to the hotel within a half-hour. The records do not say if she actually arrived with the phone.

The records also say:

When city police Officer James Ruvolo got involved in the case, he interviewed the hotel patron, who said he checked into the hotel last Friday (February 10). He said he last saw the phones, which he kept by the window in his room, around 9am Tuesday. He left the room around 9 or 10 a.m. Tuesday and returned around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Also missing from his room, he said, was a cigar and a white golf hat.

Ruvolo was contacted by the hotel investigator, who told him she had interviewed Marrero about the missing phones. At first, the investigator said, she denied taking the phones, but then admitted she took the $200 Motorola phone and gave it to her daughter. At this point, the investigator called the daughter, who offered to bring the phone to the hotel.

The investigator found the iPhone in garbage wrapped in a white-colored bag and placed in a linen closet to which only hotel employees have access.

The investigator and Ruvolo went into the linen closet, where Marrero was sitting on the floor. She waived her Miranda warnings and talked to Ruvolo.

She said “she is a single mother and works very hard” and that “her daughter wanted a cellular phone but she [Marrero] could not afford to buy one.” She then told him about taking the phones while cleaning the room Tuesday morning, giving her daughter the $200 phone, bringing the iPhone back to the hotel and trying to dispose of it after being confronted by her supervisor.

Marrero was arraigned Wednesday by on-duty District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer Township on charges of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property. She was released on $2,500 unsecured bail.