Las Vegas news briefs

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 12:34 p.m.

CASINO DEATH -- A 60-year-old man was found dead on the floor of a room at the Gold Spike hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Metro Police said the man had "obvious trauma to the head."

A police review of a surveillance video shows the victim, whose name has not been released, entering the room at 4:32 p.m. with a suspect, who was a white male, about 6 feet tall, medium build and dark collar-length hair.

The suspect was seen leaving the room at 5:36 p.m., and was wearing a baggy, light-colored shirt, dark pants and tennis shoes.

APARTMENT FIRE -- Investigators determined that a 4-year-old boy ignited a mattress with a cigarette lighter, causing a fire in a northwest Las Vegas apartment late Wednesday morning.

Las Vegas firefighters responded to the fire that began around 11:20 a.m. at Azure Crest Apartments, 100 S. Crestline Drive, near Torrey Pines Drive and U.S. 95.

Investigators say the 4-year-old was playing with his 2-year-old brother in the bedroom when he started the mattress on fire. His mother heard the activated smoke detector and the children yelling fire. She retrieved them and fled the apartment. All three were treated for smoke inhalation on the scene and released.

The fire was confined to the bedroom. Damage was estimated at $15,000.

SEWAGE SPILL -- A raw sewage spill at Eastern Avenue and Pebble Road amounted to hundreds of gallons and did not reach the Las Vegas Wash, Clark County Sanitation spokesman Marty Flynn said Wednesday.

The sanitation district learned of the broken line on Tuesday after construction workers broke through the 10-inch line Saturday morning.

Duck Creek leads to the Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major source of drinking water.

The line was repaired about noon Tuesday, according to Granite Construction Co. project manager Robert Nelson.

STOLEN FUNDS -- More than two-thirds of the $608,000 stolen last year from the state's health insurance program was returned to the system Wednesday.

A check for $466,000 was sent from the U.S. attorney's office to the state Committee on Benefits, which administers the self-insured program for state employees, retired employees and their families.

Former claims administrator Jane Treher, also known as Mary Ferris, stole $608,000 from the fund in January 1997 and was sentenced in August to 49 months in federal prison for that theft and two others. The FBI recovered $477,000 from the thefts during its investigation.

Clark County's self-funded health plan, one of Treher's other victims, also will receive some of the recovered money to compensate its losses. The state attorney general's office also plans to take legal action to recover the remaining $142,000 of embezzled state funds.