Friday, April 3, 1998 | 10:36 a.m.
A plea of not guilty to child-neglect charges was made in absentia for the parents who lost two young children and had a third seriously injured in a house fire.
The case was hustled into court Thursday for the arraignment of Armando Gonzales and Elvira Guardado-Gonzales because District Judge Donald Mosley will be out of state next week, when the hearing originally was scheduled.
Court staff indicated that for legal purposes the hearing needed to be held within 15 days of the charges being filed in District Court. While the attorneys made it to court, the couple was unavailable and Mosley allowed the plea to be entered in their absence.
A Nov. 30 trial date was set.
The parents had waived their preliminary hearing last month in Justice Court without a plea bargain, setting the stage for a District Court trial.
The parents said they had left the children at home about 10 p.m. Jan. 24 to go grocery shopping, Tim Szymanski, spokesman for the Las Vegas Fire Department, said.
At 11:09 p.m., firefighters received a 911 call of a fire in a small two-bedroom, wood-framed home at 1606 Ferrell St. near Rancho and Vegas drives.
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Moreo said that two of the children, a 4-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, were trapped behind a door they were unable to open and suffered smoke inhalation. A 2-year-old boy in another room and the 4-year-old girl died.
The 6-year-old boy was hospitalized in a smoke-induced coma with only a 50-50 chance of survival after the incident, but Deputy Public Defender Phil Kohn said the boy made a dramatic recovery and was released to his parents after two weeks.
District Attorney Stewart Bell has said that despite the personal devastation suffered by the parents, a decision was made that criminal charges were necessary to send a clear message that children can't be left home unsupervised.
"If one parent had stayed home, or if they hired a baby sitter, this wouldn't have happened," Bell said after charges were filed. He noted that the parents were away for more than two hours as flames ignited by a space heater that had been plugged into an extension cord consumed their home.
The couple, Mexican nationals, are free without bail in the custody of Hispanic activist Ray Vega, who is the Honorary Consul General from Mexico.
If convicted, the parents face the possibility of 20 years in prison.
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