/ 10 November 2005

Elvis impersonator helps police recover Presley items

A retired Elvis Presley impersonator helped police nab a man suspected of stealing more than $300 000-worth of memorabilia from the Elvis-a-Rama museum in Las Vegas, authorities said on Wednesday.

Duke Adams, a 62-year-old ”older-era Elvis”, said he was approached while in line at a pharmacy by a man offering to sell him items once owned by Presley, including jewellery, clothing and the king’s revolver.

Remembering the March 2004 burglary, Adams said he asked the man to stop by his business the next day. Adams went home and called the police.

Authorities arrested Eliab Aguilar last week after the Las Vegas man brought all but one of the stolen items to Adams’s employment agency, police said.

”He’d laid it all out on the table. It couldn’t have been handed to me more clearly,” said Detective Kelli Hickle, who’s been on the case since thieves backed a stolen tow truck into the museum, used the vehicle’s hook to lift an overhead door and heisted the loot in a matter of minutes.

Aguilar was charged with burglary, grand larceny auto, possession of stolen property and possession of a stolen firearm, Hickle said. She did not release information on any other suspects.

Among the items recovered were a 41-carat ruby-and-diamond ring worth $77 000, a $65 000 gold-and-black onyx medallion that spells ”Elvis” in diamonds, and a gold-plated Smith& Wesson .38 special. — Sapa-AP