Las Vegas news briefs

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

Authorities were still looking this morning for two inmates who walked away from the Indian Springs boot camp Monday.

Josef Keys, 21, and Cimmaron Mendoza, 21, walked off about 12:30 a.m. Monday, a spokesman from the Nevada Department of Prisons said.

Keys is described as a white man with brown hair, blue eyes and a military haircut. He is 6 feet 2 inches and 175 pounds.

Mendoza is a white man with brown eyes and hair and a military haircut. He is 5 feet 9 inches and 180 pounds.

Mendoza and Keys were taken to Indian Springs on March 5. Keys was convicted of possession of stolen credit cards, while Mendoza was in for possession of a stolen vehicle.

Victim found shot has been identified

The victim in an April 12 homicide has been identified as 37-year-old Caleb Springer.

Springer, also known as James Lamar Freeman, was found by his roommate shot to death in their apartment at 920 W. Bonanza Road.

Springer had been staying in the apartment for about a week, Metro Police said.

The roommate was unable to provide information on Springer's background, and detectives are trying to locate anyone who may be able to shed light on possible motives or suspects, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Secret Witness at 385-5555 or Metro's homicide detail at 229-3521.

Carjacking claim leads to probation

A Las Vegas man was placed on two years' probation Monday for his part in a bogus claim to an insurance company to collect $14,000 on a car that was reportedly stolen.

Michael Wayne Brown, 24, was given a year in jail by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski, but that was suspended providing he attends impulse counseling and completes 40 hours of community service. He also agreed to testify for the prosecution.

Brown and Antonio Franciscus Curry, 23, also of Las Vegas, reported that they had been carjacked at gunpoint in Curry's 1992 Cadillac DeVille in April 1997.

Curry is facing a jury trial in June on five counts of felony insurance fraud in connection with an attempt to collect nearly $14,000 from his insurance company, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said.