A distraught widow is suing a famous Las Vegas hotel after her husband died there during a $1,000 encounter with a prostitute.
Jennifer Jacoby has filed a lawsuit against the Palazzo owners after husband Jeff Jacobs, 55, died of a fentanyl overdose there during a stay there in March 2023.
Jeff, who had three children with Jennifer, traveled from his home in Colorado to Vegas for a work conference when he met sex worker Cheylee Kessee at the hotel bar at 1am.
Kessee, working with a pimp named Kashon Glass, was seen walking around the resort’s casino floor with Jeff for 40 minutes.
The pair then headed to a cashier’s cage, where Jeff withdrew $1,000, per the lawsuit. Glass followed behind.
Jeff and Kessee went up to his his hotel room, with Kessee seen emerging from the again just eight minutes later.
Jennifer, who described Jeff as her ‘soulmate’ and ‘twin flame’ in his obituary, grew worried when she hadn’t heard from her husband a few hours later.
She contacted contacted the hotel several hours later for a welfare check because he had not responded to her messages.
Hotel staff the found Jacoby unresponsive and ‘slumped on the bathroom floor.’
He’d died of a fentanyl overdose and been robbed by Kessee.
Jennifer and her daughter’s have now sued the Palazzo’s owners Venetian Casino Resort LLC and claim they’re partly to blame for Jeff’s death.
The suit alleges that Palazzo security guards should have warned Jeff that he was being followed by Glass while chatting with Kessee.
Kessee and Glass had a history of ‘targeting hotel guests to rob and victimize them’ that casino operators were well aware of, the suit claims.
University of Nevada Las Vegas law professor Ben Edwards suggested the Jacobys’ case could well have some merit.
He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: ‘Anytime you invite somebody onto your property, you have an obligation to make sure the place is safe.
‘The kinds of dangers you have to protect against are really dangers you know about. You have to try to prevent known dangers.
‘The question the court will figure out is whether it was unreasonable for the casino to not monitor, or not communicate, for this sort of thing.’
The Jacobys’ lawsuit does not specify how much in damages they are seeking from the Palazzo’s owners.
Kessee and Glass were charged with murder after being accused of supplying the lethal dose.
They ended up striking a plea deal that saw both admit voluntary manslaughter and robbery
Glass was jailed for 50 years and could be paroled after 20
Kessee was sentenced to 20 years but may be paroled after she’s served eight.
An obituary for Jeff Jacoby outlined his devotion to his family.
‘Jeff Jacoby ran home to Jesus on March 1st, 2023,’ it said.
‘He attended Moorhead High School and graduated from Moorhead State University with a degree in accounting.
‘Jeff met and married Jenny, his soulmate and twin flame in Fargo, North Dakota in 1990.’
‘Jeff went on to raise three girls which was one of the great joys of his life – from soccer games every weekend, ballet recitals, and piano practices to high school graduations, college dorm move-ins, first jobs, and a wedding,’ the obituary continued.
‘He was there for every moment and milestone, cheering his girls on daily. His wife, Jenny, was the greatest love of his life aside from the Lord.
‘They went everywhere and did everything together.
‘They loved to spend time drinking coffee and sitting out on the back porch in the morning sun together, going to church on Sunday mornings, and in more recent years, spending time together with their daughters in Denver, Austin, and Waco.’
