UPDATE: Snowboarder Checks In From Casino Safe And Sound
STATELINE, Nev. (CBS13) - A snowboarder thought to be missing at Heavenly Mountain Resort was in fact perfectly fine and spent the night with an acquaintance at a Stateline casino, according to the sheriff's office.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office was called out to the South Lake Tahoe resort at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday after Corey Hoffman, 24, of Gardnerville, Nevada was reported overdue. He and his brother were snowboarding at the resort during the day but separated at some point, according to Undersheriff Paul Howell.
Searchers went back out to Heavenly Thursday morning to search for Hoffman, but he called his father and said he'd spent the night at the Horizon Hotel and Casino.
Sheriff's deputies interviewed Hoffman and his brother who reported him missing and don't believe Corey knew his brother thought he was missing.
One said they last saw each other at a bar in the gondola village and the other said they separated on the mountain, but the information was conflicting because of the consumption of alcohol, the sheriff's office said.
The search for Hoffman involved 75 personnel from several jurisdictions and volunteer organizations, two helicopters and is estimated to have cost $40,000, Howell said.
It also "risked the safety of search and rescue personnel who conducted this search in bad weather and hazardous terrain," he said.
