LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A California man is suing The Venetian Resort in Las Vegasafter claiming he was stung in the genitals by a scorpion while staying at the hotel.
Michael Farchi of Agoura Hills was staying in The Venetian's Palazzo Tower with his family over the Christmas holidays. He told ABC7 in Los Angeles that on Dec. 26, he was jolted awake by a sudden pain in his groin.
"I was surprised. I didn't know what it was," Farchi said. "I reached my hand [down] to see what's happening under the covers and got another sharp [sting] and another sharp [sting]. After that, I went to the restroom and saw a scorpion hanging on my underwear."
Farchi said he filed an incident report with the resort and went to a local hospital to get checked out.
"They said that this is a poisonous scorpion and that's it. They gave me pain medication and another medication and released me. They told me [the pain] is supposed to pass in a few days," Farchi said. "I'm not sure I'm healthy. I have some ongoing issues, medically and emotionally, with this."
Farchi said as soon as he was released from the hospital, he and his family packed up and left the resort.
"The Palazzo didn't even apologize for what happened, when I met with the hotel manager," Farchi said. "This has made me very angry. They didn't care about anything."
Farchi's attorney, Brian Virag, called the whole incident "unbelievable".
"We did do some investigation and some homework on this case and this appears to not be the first time that scorpions were found in a guestroom at the Palazzo at The Venetian," Virag said. "It's just completely unacceptable on every level. Guests need to be safe in their guestroom. Clearly, that was not the case. I'm just very fortunate that Mike reached out to me and I can try to get him the justice that he deserves because nobody needs to be exposed to deadly scorpions while they're sleeping, let alone their private areas."
According to Virag, they still have the scorpion from that night and they "hope The Venetian will do the right thing."
The Venetian sent the following statement.
"To preserve the privacy of our guests, we’re unable to comment on this incident. The resort has protocols for all incidents and we can confirm they were followed in this incident."
