What Happens In Iowa City Stays In Iowa City

Remember, even in Las Vegas, this is illegal:

An Iowa casino worker says he should not have been fired for demanding that his co-workers provide him with prostitutes because the casino promotes Las Vegas-style gaming.

Neil Jorgensen, 62, of Kalona worked at the Riverside Casino and Gold Resort south of Iowa City until last November. He was fired after he was given a $100 Riverside gift certificate and a free night's stay at the casino hotel in recognition of a year's employment with the company.

He used the gift certificate and free night's stay on the night of Nov. 28.

"I went to Ruthie's, the nice steakhouse within the casino, and I had a cosmopolitan or two and a bottle of wine and a really good dinner," Jorgensen testified at a recent state hearing dealing with his request for unemployment benefits.

He said he went to his hotel room about midnight and called hotel managers for help in figuring out how to order an adult movie. An hour later, he said, he called the managers again "and asked for a hooker."

After the managers refused to help procure a prostitute for him, Jorgensen called someone at the adjacent resort and made the same request.

"The advertisement is that it's just like Las Vegas, so I thought I was in Las Vegas," Jorgensen testified.

The casino's human resources director, Tim Donovan, testified that hotel workers were then sent to Jorgensen's room to insist that he stop calling for prostitutes.

"When the hotel supervisor knocked on the door, Mr. Jorgensen answered the door in the nude," Donovan testified.

Jorgensen was fired the next day.

At the benefits hearing, he testified that his actions had no detrimental effect on the casino. He said he had been given an "excellent" performance review not long before the incident.

"Gamblers have been allowed to continue gambling after they've urinated on the blackjack table standing in full public view," he testified. "I think there's a little dual standard here."

He also blamed the casino restaurant for his state of intoxication.

"They overserved me," he said. "And this casino advertises itself, if you look at any of their commercials, as a Las Vegas-style casino."

Jorgensen said Wednesday that his requests for a prostitute were actually part of "an off-the-wall surveillance" test of some kind. "I was absolutely plowed," he added.

Administrative Law Judge Terence Nice rejected Jorgensen's claim for benefits.