A $20 Las Vegas photo op ended with two tourists injured, two showgirl impersonators arrested and a viral video showing a chaotic fight unfolding on the Strip.
Jennifer Ortiz, 26, and Magdellena Romero, 43, were arrested after the Sept. 30 confrontation outside Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The tourists, a North Carolina couple who were in Las Vegas to get married, had stopped for photos with three women dressed in feathered showgirl costumes.
The couple told police they paid $20 before Ortiz followed them and demanded substantially more money, according to an arrest report reviewed by FOX5. What followed spilled across the sidewalk as tourists watched and cameras recorded the fight.
Ortiz and Romero gave police a different account, saying the tourists were the aggressors. Video and surveillance footage became central to officers’ reconstruction of what happened.
Feathers Fly
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Video from the confrontation shows several people fighting near the Planet Hollywood property as bystanders gather around them. One man loses his shirt during the struggle before police eventually arrive.
TMZ obtained video shortly after the incident and reported that two women were arrested.
According to the police report subsequently obtained by local news outlets, Ortiz struck Eric Richards more than 22 times. Police said she removed a white high-heeled boot and struck him in the forehead with it, leaving a cut measuring nearly two inches.
Richards’ fiancée, Merihazel Walters, told police she tried to intervene before Romero tackled her, pulled her hair and repeatedly punched her in the head and face.
The third costumed woman did not strike the tourists and instead attempted to stop the fight, police said.
Two Accounts
Ortiz told police Richards became aggressive and struck her first. Romero said she stepped in after seeing two people attacking Ortiz.
But an officer wrote that surveillance footage and video obtained from Planet Hollywood appeared to support Richards and Walters’ account, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The couple received medical treatment at the scene but declined transportation to a hospital. They later provided written statements and requested charges.
The confrontation happened the day before their wedding. Video from the Graceland Wedding Chapel posted several days later showed Richards getting married with the forehead wound still visible.
Another Complaint
The arrest report also describes a separate complaint involving Ortiz at the same location.
Another tourist told police he agreed to pay $60 for photographs and tapped his debit card against Ortiz’s phone. He later discovered a $218 charge.
When he challenged the transaction, he said Ortiz gave him a false phone number to resolve the dispute. He provided police with a written statement and requested charges.
Police also noted that Ortiz was subject to a stay-out-of-trouble order stemming from a March 2026 confrontation at the Fremont Street Experience.
Ortiz was booked on suspicion of battery and obtaining money under false pretenses involving less than $1,200. Romero was booked on suspicion of battery. Arrests and criminal charges are not findings of guilt.
Both women are scheduled for a Dec. 3 status check.