Las Vegas: Father and Son Robbed at Gunpoint at Facebook Marketplace E-Bike Meetup

A father and his teenage son were ambushed by masked, armed men while trying to buy an e-bike listed on Facebook Marketplace.

Justin Perea had $1,200 in cash tucked in his pocket. His teenage son Ryder was with him. Together, they were headed toward a home in the Durango area of Las Vegas to buy an e-bike they'd spotted on Facebook Marketplace. The price had seemed fair. The messages, ordinary. Nothing hinted at what was waiting for them.

There was no bike.

The moment they stepped out of the car, two masked, armed men closed in. No seller, nothing to inspect — just the trap snapping shut. Investigators believe at least three people were involved in the ambush, including whoever wrote the listing and set the meeting time, possibly days or even weeks in advance.

Exactly how the bike was chosen as bait, or how long this group had been operating this way, remains unclear. What is confirmed is what came next: police identified one participant, a juvenile, and arrested him in the days following the incident. Investigators haven't ruled out that other members of the group remain at large, and the case stays open.

A phantom listing — an item that never existed, posted for the sole purpose of luring a victim to a chosen location — is nearly impossible to spot in advance. Nothing in the conversation gave Justin Perea any reason to suspect there would never be a bike to look at that night.