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VEGAS FRAUD TRIAL
County analyst convicted in insurance fraud case
(Information in the following story is from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 49-year-old Clark County human resources analyst was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy for plotting with a dead former judge to steal $824,000 from an auto insurance company.
Erik Holman's defense attorneys said he'll appeal the jury verdict reached Thursday in Las Vegas.
U.S. District Judge James Mahan scheduled sentencing June 5.
Holman was convicted of conspiring with former Henderson Municipal Court Judge John Provost to embezzle money from American Family Insurance between October 2005 and April 2009.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the jury was told that Holman reaped the benefit of phony invoices that Provost created for work that Holman didn't do for the insurance company.
Provost committed suicide in July 2009 amid embezzlement allegations.
Holman didn't testify. His lawyers told jurors that Provost acted alone.
VALLEY OF FIRE DEATH
Driver pinned against rock dies at Valley of Fire
OVERTON, Nev. (AP) — Authorities say a Las Vegas tour guide who was trying to get back into a rolling SUV died in Valley of Fire State Park northeast of Las Vegas.
Rescuers say they were called to the park about 11:30 a.m. Thursday and pronounced the 72-year-old woman dead at the scene.
Investigators say the woman had parked a 2007 Ford Expedition in a dirt parking lot in the Lone Rock area when it started to roll forward. Witnesses say she ran to the driver's side and tried to get back in, but the left side of the vehicle hit a large rock formation and she was pinned between that and the SUV.
Police described the situation to KSNV-TV as a sad day for her family and the tourists who were with her.
CHILD ABDUCTION-VEGAS
Woman in Ohio abduction case fighting extradition
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A woman arrested with a 4-year-old girl who had been reported missing by her father in Ohio is contesting her extradition following her arrest in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure set an identity hearing March 13 after the woman denied Thursday that she was the girl's mother, Eva Villamor-Goubeaux.
The woman remained Friday at the Clark County jail on a fugitive warrant.
U.S. marshals arrested the 38-year-old woman on Feb. 27 after finding her working as a home health care provider in the Las Vegas area.
The girl was returned to her father in Troy, Ohio.
The Dayton Daily News reports that Villamor-Goubeaux was sought on a custodial interference warrant issued Feb. 5, in Ohio's Miami County.
ROAD RAGE DEATH
Man convicted of murder in Carson road rage death
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A 28-year-old man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a woman in an apparent Carson City road rage incident.
The jury handed down the verdict Thursday against Carson City resident Leonardo Cardoza in the death of 19-year-old Desiree Bragg.
Deputies say Bragg was riding in a car driven by her fiance the night of Jan. 26, 2013 when they noticed a van tailgating close behind on College Parkway. They pulled into Bragg's mother's driveway and got out of the car.
Deputies say that's when the van driver accelerated into Bragg, causing multiple injuries. She was taken to a Reno hospital, where she died four days later.
Cardoza was also charged with attempted murder against Bragg's fiance.
BODY FOUND-JACKPOT
Jackpot homicide may be domestic dispute victim
(Information in the following story is from: Elko Daily Free Press, http://www.elkodaily.com)
JACKPOT, Nev. (AP) — Elko County Undersheriff Clair Morris says a homicide victim found last month about 3 miles south of Jackpot may have been killed in a domestic dispute.
Detectives originally suspected 26-year-old Leopoldo Filverio-Martinez of Guajara, Mexico had been murdered by members of a Mexican drug cartel when his body was found Feb. 3 with four gunshot wounds to the chest.
But Morris tells the Elko Daily Free Press investigators learned Filverio-Martinez had been involved in a fight with an unknown person over a woman before his body apparently was dumped along a dirt road off U.S. 93.
The victim worked at a dairy farm in Gooding, Idaho. He had purchased a vehicle from a co-worker who is missing. Authorities are looking for the 1996 Ford Windstar with Idaho plates.
NEVADA GOVERNOR
Sandoval files for 2nd term with no big opponent
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Brian Sandoval has filed for second term, steamrolling into the 2014 election season sitting atop a huge campaign fund and no big name opponents in his rearview mirror.
The first-term Republican says he intends to serve out his second term if re-elected and will focus on improving education, Nevada's mental health system and the economy.
Candidate filing continues through March 14. While others have filed for the office, none are well known and Democrats have yet to field a favorite.
Any challenger will face a big funding hurdle. Campaign fundraising reports show Sandoval raised more than $3 million last year in his re-election bid.
LONG-MARRIED COUPLE-PARK NAME
Park named for couple with record-setting marriage
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada couple whose 79-year marriage was at one point named the longest in the world now has a park named in their honor.
Officials announced Thursday that a Clark County park next to the Wet 'n' Wild waterpark would be named after Wilbur and Theresa Faiss. The name was selected by the student council at Faiss Middle School next door.
The Faisses were named the world's longest-married couple in 2012 by Worldwide Marriage Encounter. Theresa died that year at the age of 97, while Wilbur died in November at age 102.
The couple moved to North Las Vegas in 1944. Wilbur Faiss served two terms in the Nevada State Senate beginning in 1976, and Theresa Faiss was honored as Clark County's Pioneer Mother of the Year in 1996.
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