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Charges: Daniel Escamilla Swindled Minnesota Vikings In $70K Luxury Suite Scam

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Hennepin County Attorney's office has charged 39-year-old Daniel Escamilla with passing bad checks in order to rent out luxury suites for Minnesota Vikings games.

Escamilla, from San Francisco, was charged Wednesday with three counts of theft by swindle.

According to the criminal complaint, Escamilla signed a contract on September 5, 2018, to rent a luxury suite for a Vikings-49ers game at U.S Bank Stadium on September 9. More than a week later, the Vikings contacted Escamilla to say the check had been returned because his bank account had been closed. Escamilla said he was sorry, then preceded to write another $225,000 in checks to the team to rent luxury suites for several other games.

stadium-suites
A U.S. Bank Stadium luxury suite (credit: CBS)

The team soon found that those checks were also connected to closed accounts, and a web search revealed Escamilla had run a similar scam in another state. The Vikings lost $70,000 in total from their dealings with him.

Investigators also found that Escamilla signed a lease at a luxury downtown Minneapolis apartment building in August of 2018. Management said he threw a big party in the apartment before the aforementioned 49ers game, but never paid rent or even a security deposit. He was evicted in late September.

An online records search shows charges for forgery, unlawful issuance of checks and possession of stolen property in Washington state in 2004.

Escamilla's whereabouts are currently unknown, and a warrant is out for his arrest.

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