Las Vegas news briefs

Monday, May 24, 1999 | 12:06 p.m.

Woman pleads guilty in murder case

A woman charged as a co-conspirator in a murder case that touches the noted du Pont family pleaded guilty Friday and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Diana Hironaga, 40, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10 for her role in the Aug. 2 murder-for-hire of Patricia Margello, whose body was found in the air conditioning duct of a Strip motel.

Margello was the girlfriend of Dean MacGuigan, whose mother, Lisa Dean Moseley, is a direct descendant of the Du Pont Co. founder.

Prosecutors allege MacGuigan's stepfather, Christopher Moseley, hired Hironaga, Ricardo Murillo and Joseph Balignasa in Las Vegas to kill both MacGuigan and Margello if the two were not off drugs within six weeks.

In her pleading, Hironaga said when Margello refused to return to Philadelphia from Las Vegas, Moseley paid $15,000 to have her killed.

Man charged in fatal assault

Metro Police charged a man with murder Sunday in connection with the stabbing death of Jason Mann, 23, Sunday morning at the Polo Club Apartments, 4201 S. Decatur Blvd.

Jeff Brawley, 26, was also charged with attempted murder for stabbing Mann's friend Jason Grizzle, 24, in the neck, police said.

Police said according to witnesses at the scene, the two victims argued with Brawley around 2 a.m. at the pool area. It is believed that Brawley did not know the victims.

Grizzle was taken to University Medical Center where he underwent surgery for a knife wound to the neck. Mann died at the scene.

Killing may be gang-related

Metro Police say an apparent gang confrontation Saturday night left Rene Lorenzo Hererra, 19, dead of a gunshot wound.

Police believe that around 9 p.m. Saturday in a parking lot at 5100 E. Tropicana Ave. a fight broke out between two groups of reported gang members. At 9:17 p.m. police found Hererra dead in the west parking lot.

Police also found a stabbing victim at the grocery store across the street from the parking lot. The victim was taken to University Medical Center.

Anyone with information on the homicide is asked to call police at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Henderson fire ruled accidental

A fire that engulfed four under-construction Henderson homes at noon Friday was sparked by a propane torch, a Henderson Fire Department official said today.

A plumber was using the torch on an air conditioning and heating duct in one of the homes when a spark set fire to it, according to Division Chief Brad Kreutzer.

The fire spread quickly to the other homes, causing $200,000 in damages, Kreutzer said.

UNLV name used in sales pitch

UNLV officials say scam artists are using the university's name to collect money or sell goods and services. Officials say the university has received reports of such incidents in Summerlin.

"Unfortunately, scams in which people improperly use UNLV's name to raise money pop up from time to time," UNLV spokesman Tom Flagg said.

Wyoming lawmakers to visit Nevada

Ten Wyoming lawmakers plan to take a trip to the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain June 5-7, where they will be guests of nuclear power industry lobbyists.

A nuclear repository is being planned in Wyoming, but Wyoming law requires that Yucca Mountain be ready to accept waste before its Owl Creek Site is developed.

While participants say much can be learned from the trip, critics say the trip, sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute, is biased.

Investigators probe blazes at house

Las Vegas fire investigators are looking into two fires at a West Las Vegas house that may have been started by fire bombs.

On May 17 firefighters responded to call from a house near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards after something was thrown against the front door of the house and started a fire.

Firefighters were again at the house at 2 a.m. Friday and found the house engulfed in flames. The fire was brought under control in less than 10 minutes, but $60,000 in damage was sustained.

The 53-year-old woman who lives at the house told investigators she believes that someone threw fire bombs into her home because she is scheduled to testify in an attempted murder trial.