FBI arrests LV man in airport threats

Cathy Scott

Monday, Oct. 20, 1997 | 11:23 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who lives near McCarran International Airport has been charged with threatening to blow up the control tower and kill executives, according to an arrest warrant filed in U.S. District Court.

FBI agents arrested Joseph Patrick Fuentes, 30, who lives in the 3600 block of Migules Lane below the flight pattern of the north-south runway. Fuentes is a banquet manager at the Treasure Island and Mirage hotel-casinos.

Fuentes' arrest came after Randy Walker, director of aviation at McCarran, received a letter Oct. 3 via the U.S. mail with a demand that "incoming flights from the Mountain Vista to Pecos area be diverted ... or the author of the letter would blow up the air traffic control tower," a complaint filed in U.S. District Court states.

One letter states: "I will kill tower control, go north-south be4 its too late ... Do not play games. I will kill. Please be sure to constantly check the elevators in the tower. The day is coming near!" The correspondence was generated by cutting and pasting letters from newspapers and magazines, the affidavit says.

Paul Strybing, air traffic manager of the Las Vegas tower, received a letter Oct. 9 "demanding that the noise around the Mountain Vista-Sunset area be reduced" or otherwise the "author of the letter had the explosive power to blow up the control tower as well as arriving aircraft."

Fingerprints were lifted from an envelope and letter of a second letter sent to Walker and later matched with Fuentes' work card application.

Fuentes, who was arrested Friday, was to appear in U.S. District Court today.