Las Vegas Criminal Defense Blog

Twenty-two year old Miguele Rubio, who was court-ordered to stay away from gangs, was taken into custody last week when law enforcement allegedly observed him near Carson City’s Lima Street Gang. Rubio is now in a Douglas County Jail awaiting his next court date.

Rubio was originally arrested in March along with Andrew Tagay, a gang member, for allegedly mugging two teens. He pled guilty to robbery in Nevada and was given a suspended sentence on the condition that he avoid all gang crimes in Nevada, including being near any gang members.

Gang crimes in Nevada are penalized harshly by the state courts, enhancing an underlying criminal sentence by one to twenty years.

For the next two weeks, the Mesquite Police Department is working with various other police agencies in the state as part of Nevada’s “Joining Forces” program to help combat DUI in Nevada. Their new mantra is “Over the limit, under arrest.”

For the “Joining Forces” program, Mesquite cops are teaming up with law enforcement officers from around the state to patrol the streets for drunk or drugged drivers. Sergeant Rob Stepp explained, “We want people to arrive safely at their final destination.”

A first offense for a DUI in Nevada is a misdemeanor, and jail time can usually be suspended. Subsequent DUIs, however, carry harsher penalties and larger fines. The Office of Traffic Safety, Nevada Department of Public Safety is funding the Joining Forces traffic enforcement campaign.

Source report:http://www.mesquitenv.com/department/Police

Last week the Nevada Supreme Court rejected the appeal by convicted murderer Gregory Everett because he waited sixteen years to file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea of first-degree murder in Nevada. In a 3-0 decision, the Court explained, "Appellant failed to provide any explanation for the delay."

On July 12, 1980, Everett and three other men allegedly entered a Las Vegas apartment with the intent to steal. When the resident David Kinnamon walked in on them, one of the other men shot him to death.

In 1981 Everett pled guilty to first-degree murder in Nevada and was originally sentenced to death, but the Nevada State Board of Pardons reduced it to life in prison without parole. Now forty-eight years old, he’s currently in Ely State Prison.

According to statistics just released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the majority of vehicles stolen in Nevada are at least ten years old. Of the top ten cars most frequently stolen, seven of them were made in the 1990’s, with the 1992 Honda Accord taking the first place spot.

Bob Feldman of the Nevada Insurance Council explained, “People tend to think that brand-new high-priced vehicles are the most likely to be stolen, but the data just doesn’t support that. Car thieves target the older cars that can be broken down and sold for parts instead.”

Meanwhile, Las Vegas has dropped from first place among U.S. cities for highest auto theft rights down to seventh place between 2006 and 2008: Per capita, now there are 732 auto thefts per 100,000 residents as opposed to 1,256 thefts three years ago. Authorities credit the police department’s Vehicle Investigations Project for Enforcement and Recovery (VIPER) program.

Continue reading " Revealing Statistics of Stolen Vehicles in Nevada " »

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified Nevada as one of ten states that showed an increase in the number of fatal DUI crashes last year where the driver was a woman. Nationwide, there was a 4.6% increase in the number of females arrested for driving under the influence between 2003 and 2007.

Even though females still make up less than twenty percent of drivers arrested for DUI in Nevada, resulting accidents therefore are usually more dangerous because women drivers tend to have more passengers, such as children: NHTSA reports that thirty-five percent of all alcohol-impaired female drivers have passengers.

Continue reading " Nevada Singled Out for Increase in Fatal DUI Accidents Where Driver was Female " »

Attorneys practicing the criminal defense of aliens in Nevada may have some new clients: Earlier this month U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) orchestrated a three-day gang enforcement operation in Las Vegas and Mesquite, resulting in the arrest of twenty-nine gang members and gang associates from Mexico, El Salvador, Afghanistan, and the Bahamas. Some of them are charged with re-entry after having been deported while others are foreign nationals being processed for removal, and most of them have serious criminal histories.

This latest round of arrests was part of Operation Community Shield, where ICE’s National Gang Unit joins forces with other law enforcement agencies to capture dangerous trans-national gangs. For this operation, ICE recruited the help of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Mesquite Police Department, the Nevada Department of Public Safety’s Division of Parole and Probation and Division of Immigrants.

Continue reading " 29 Alleged Foreign Gang Members Taken into Custody in Nevada " »

Although drunk driving has decreased by seventy percent over the last thirty years in the U.S., national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske warned Las Vegas law enforcement on Wednesday that drugged driving in Las Vegas is on the rise. The drugs include prescription and over-the-counter medications in addition to illegal narcotics, though the majority of drugged drivers are under the influence of marijuana.

New statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggest that one in six drivers is under the influence of drugs. Just this past week, Las Vegas Metro arrested one hundred and nineteen drivers for DUI. Last year, Steven Murray, who killed a woman in Boulder City after driving into her while being under the influence of prescription drugs, was the first person to be found guilty under Nevada’s felony DUI manslaughter law.

Continue reading " "Drugged Driving" Cases on the Rise in Nevada " »

The Nevada Gaming Control Board is warning patrons participating in casino reward programs to keep track of their loyalty points because some casino employees are committing theft in Las Vegas by stealing them.

Customers who frequent various hotels and casinos may rack up loyalty points by booking rooms, eating at restaurants, gambling, etc., which they then may use to redeem free casino services or merchandise in the future. However, since employees have easy access to the system, some are deducting points for their own personal use.

Employees caught for this kind of theft in Las Vegas face such charges as computer fraud and embezzlement, which may carry several years of prison time.

On Saturday, Las Vegas police apprehended two cops from the Honolulu Police Department for alleged marijuana possession in Nevada and other charges. Officer Shayne Souza, 47, and Officer Kevin Fujioka, 37, were in town for the Nevada Police and Fire Games, a five-day sporting extravaganza attended by more than two thousand police and firefighters from all over America. If convicted, they face fines, jail time, and termination of employment from the HPD.

The arrest occurred during a softball tournament when Las Vegas police spotted the two HPD cops parked illegally in a van at Desert Breeze Park. When the officer approached, Souza and Fujioka drove off, leading the LVPD on a short chase, before trying to run away. They were soon caught, though pepper spray had to be used on Souza.

In addition to charges for marijuana possession in Nevada, Souza was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, and possession of drug paraphernalia, and Fujioka was charged with DUI.

On Tuesday, Bill Beeson, a former drama teacher from Virginia City High School, accepted a plea of guilty to solicitation of a minor to engage in acts constituting a crime against nature (NRS 201.195). In addition, he will register as a sex offender.

NRS 201.195 is a gross misdemeanor, so Beeson faces a $2,000 fine and up to one year in jail. He’s scheduled for sentencing on October 16 in Storey County Court.

In the spring of 2007, a student accused Beeson of inappropriately touching him, at which point he was placed on administrative leave. Meanwhile, other former students accused Beeson of sexual assault in Nevada, and Beeson was eventually arrested. In October 2008, Beeson pled to felony sexual assault in Nevada and gross misdemeanor unlawful contact with a child for the 2007 incident. The reason for this week’s plea was to stop prosecutors from charging Beeson with crimes stemming from other former students’ accusations.

You need to have a concealed firearms permit for the privilege of carrying concealed firearms in Nevada. Recently, there’s been a significant increase in Nevadans signing up for concealed weapons classes. It’s thought that this increase stems from people’s anticipation of more stringent gun control laws under the Obama administration.

In Washoe County, the number of people applying for concealed firearms permits per month doubled and sometimes tripled since November's presidential election. Currently, the sheriff’s office is receiving about 200 applications a month. Middle-aged men constitute the bulk of registrants, though more senior citizens have been applying for permits recently.

If you're caught carrying concealed firearms in Nevada and you don't have a permit, you face charges of a category C felony, which carries up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Recently four men have been arrested and booked in Las Vegas for pimping a 15-year-old girl. They face charges of living off the earnings of a prostitute and first-degree kidnapping in Las Vegas, the latter of which may carry a life sentence.

The suspects, who are all under twenty-two years old, are members of or associated with the LA-based gang “Blythe Street.” They’re accused of keeping a 15-year-old girl locked in a room at an Extended Stay Motel and forcing her to have sex with Johns. Allegedly they struck her in the face with a gun when she tried to leave and even played “Russian Roulette” on her with a gun.

Details of the alleged kidnapping in Las Vegas are still unclear, but the girl was apparently locked up for several weeks. The situation wasn’t discovered by authorities until a motel patron, whom one of the suspects tried to solicit the girl to, called the police.

Last month in Chavez v. State, the Nevada Supreme Court clarified its position on the 2004 U.S. Supreme Court case Crawford v. Washington, which held that the Sixth Amendment confrontation clause bars “admission of testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless he was unavailable to testify, and the defendant had had a prior opportunity for cross-examination.”

In Chavez, the defendant Chavez was charged with sexual assault on a minor in Nevada for allegedly having sexual relations with his daughter, D.C. D.C. had testified at the preliminary hearing, during which Chavez subjected her to extensive cross-examination. However, D.C. passed away before she could appear at Chavez’s actual trial, so the judge, in accordance with Crawford, allowed D.C.’s preliminary hearing testimony to come in as evidence.

After Chavez was convicted of sexual assault on a minor in Nevada, he appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court on several grounds, including the Sixth Amendment. In affirming the verdict, the Nevada Supreme Court explained that preliminary hearing testimony can “afford a defendant an opportunity for effective cross-examination.” However, whether the preliminary hearing actually does provide that opportunity is something the Court will determine on a case-by-case basis. In Chavez, the breadth of D.C.’s testimony and Chavez’s cross-examination and the fact discovery was nearly complete by the preliminary hearing rendered her testimony admissible in line with Crawford and the Confrontation Clause.

In 2006, Durand Berry was convicted for open and gross lewdness in Las Vegas after allegedly holding up a Cash Loans store and suggestively touching the cashier. In Berry v. State (125 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 26), he appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court on the grounds that NRS 201.210, open and gross lewdness in Nevada, was unconstitutionally vague because the words “gross” and “lewdness” aren’t defined in Nevada law. In rejecting his argument last month, the Court explained that those words have generally accepted meanings because “an average person of ordinary intelligence can determine what conduct is proscribed by the statute.”

Open and gross lewdness in Las Vegas encompasses such acts as engaging in sexual activity in public or exposing one’s private parts. A first offense is a gross misdemeanor carrying one year in jail, and a second offense is a category D felony, mandating up to 4 years in state prison.

On Thursday, Reno police arrested Malkit Singh, owner of M.S. and Son Market, for attempted possession of stolen property in Nevada after allegedly buying stolen cigarettes from an undercover officer. The cigarettes’ total value was $16,000, but Singh paid only a quarter of that.

The sting was carried out by the Reno and Sparks Police Departments, and Costco provided the cigarettes. After the sting, the police seized over 2,000 bottles of liquor, over $4,000 in cash and a 2004 Chevy Pickup.

Possession of stolen property in Nevada is a felony if the value of the property is $250 or more. In addition to fines and prison time, the court also demands complete restitution.

On Tuesday, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced that Downtown will soon be home to a Mob Museum, officially called the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Ironically, it will be located at the site of the former federal courthouse and a short walk from the Clark County Regional Justice Center.

The museum will display many artifacts from real mobsters, but the centerpiece will be a brick wall section that was the actual backdrop for the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago. In addition, the museum will also showcase how law enforcement eventually succeeded in minimizing mob influence. As Mayor Goodman explains, "The bottom line is -- and nobody knows it better than I do -- law enforcement won. The mob is not here, and that's one of the reasons I became the mayor. I didn't have any clients left."

The Las Vegas Mob Museum is set to open in early 2011 and will cost fifty million dollars. Its address is 300 Stewart Ave., a few blocks north of the Clark County Regional Justice Center.

Law enforcement needs to obtain warrants prior to executing searches except in certain extraordinary situations, including emergencies. Recently, the Nevada Supreme Court adopted a new test to determine whether a warrantless search of a private residence is permissible.

Formerly, warrantless home entry by law enforcement was constitutional as long as two standards were met:

• the cops reasonably believed that emergency assistance was needed, and


• there was no intent to either search or arrest at the time of entry

But in the May 2009 Nevada Supreme Court case Hannon v. State (125 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 15), the Court announced they changed the test to conform with the 2006 United States Supreme Court case Brigham City v. Stuart (547 U.S. 398, 404). Now, when deciding the reasonableness of an emergency home entry, the Court will consider only whether law enforcement “had an objectively reasonable basis to believe that there was an immediate need to protect the lives or safety of themselves or others.” Therefore, the cop’s subjective determination is no longer relevant.

In Hannon, an officer arrived at a private residence after reports of a domestic disturbance. Even though the situation had cooled by the time the officer arrived, the officer entered the house without the residents’ permission and found evidence of marijuana use. An occupant, Mr. Hannon, was charged for possession of a controlled substance in Nevada, and Mr. Hannon then moved to suppress the marijuana on the grounds that the officer’s search was unreasonable.

Continue reading " NV Supreme Court Defines New Standard for Warrantless Entries " »

Even though it’s illegal to give cell phones to inmates, a significant number of Nevada prisoners still manage to procure and use cell phones. To help combat this issue, Nevada prison chief Howard Skolnik advocates using signal-jamming technology in prisons. Skolnik explained, "We don't always know what's inside our institutions, so the best way for us is, if these unauthorized cell phones get in, to make sure they aren't functional.”

Skolnik recounts how Kenneth “Jody” Thompson, who had been doing time at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center for grand larceny and robbery in Nevada, used a smuggled cell phone to orchestrate his escape in August 2005. Thompson then proceeded to commit robbery in Nevada several more times before being recaptured.

All non-governmental radio communications is subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules. Currently, FCC permits only federal agencies to jam cell phone signals, which excludes state prison systems.

Last week Las Vegas businessman Jean Marc El Jwaidi was arrested and answered to charges at the Regional Justice Center on six counts of elder exploitation. According to investigators, El Jwaidi promised senior citizen Richard Sage they’d act as equal partners in a commercial real estate investment that never materialized. Sage reported losing $400,000.

Meanwhile, many other investors have filed lawsuits against El Jwaidi in what is being heralded as a massive worldwide real estate scam. However, one of El Jwaidi’s companies recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, which could make it trickier for creditors to reclaim assets.

Back in June, investigators searched El Jwaidi’s office, which in part paved the way for Wednesday’s arrest. According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office, "Evidence seized there and information that poured in from the public will likely lead to additional charges, including securities fraud, obtaining money under false pretenses and racketeering.”

The preliminary hearing is set for August thirteenth at the Regional Justice Center.

Last Monday California businessman Kirk Vartanian appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court on charges of theft and unpaid casino markers. In 2007, he allegedly passed a total of $250,000 in bad checks at two Las Vegas casinos—the Venetian and the Wynn.

Under the current deal with prosecutors, Vartanian must pay $3,771 a month for the next four years. He’s already repaid $60,000 and, according to reports, an additional $9,000 before that. Once the full amount is repaid, the case will be dismissed.

Judge Nancy Oesterle scheduled a status check hearing in January at Las Vegas Justice Court, though Vartanian won’t be required to attend.

Vartanian has also been charged with assault and domestic violence in California.