News briefs

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

Home invasion thief at it again, cops say

Metro Police suspect that the man who committed a Tuesday afternoon home invasion robbery is also responsible for two similar crimes.

About 1:30 p.m. Tuesday a man parked his car in the driveway of a home near Cheyenne Avenue and Tenaya Way, then walked into the open garage and forced the resident into the house, police said.

The suspect forced the homeowner to go to his bank and make a withdrawal before dropping the victim back off at his house, police said.

Police believe that the suspect is also responsible for two home invasion robberies that occurred on Friday in the northwest and southwest parts of the valley, police said.

The suspect is described as Hispanic in his late 20s or early 30s, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall with brown hair. The man was driving a large four-door car, possibly a sport utility vehicle, police said.

Anyone with information about these robberies is asked to call police at 229-3591 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Wanted man leads police on chase

A man wanted on a felony warrant rammed two Metro Police cars on Tenaya Way near Sahara Avenue and drove off, leading the police on an hourlong pursuit that ended near Lee Canyon Road and Mount Charleston, Metro Police said.

The police had Avery Church, 22, under surveillance in a home on Satinwood Drive when the suspect left in a Honda car. Police tried to pull him over, they said.

After causing minor to moderate damage to two police cars and leading police on a chase, Church was arrested on Mount Charleston and was being held awaiting booking this morning, police said. Church is expected to be charged with parole violation, two counts of battery with a deadly weapon on a police officer and felony evading a police officer, police said.

Tourist raped at gunpoint

A Reno woman told police Wednesday that two armed men refused to take "no" as an answer to the question "Wanna party?" and forced her into their red hatchback car at gunpoint, Metro Police said.

The woman said she had just left the MGM hotel-casino at 2 a.m. Wednesday when the men approached her. After she turned down their offer of a party, they forced her into their car, police said. They took her to a vacant lot at Diablo Drive and Giles Street, near Las Vegas Boulevard and Russell Road, where she was raped at gunpoint, then pushed out of the car, police said.

As the men left the scene the woman was partially run over by their car, she told police. She was treated Wednesday for minor injuries at University Medical Center and released.

Police are looking for two Hispanic men, both between the ages of 25 and 27 and each 5 feet 8 inches tall, one weighing about 180 pounds with brown hair and eyes and one weighing about 200 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Man indicted in death of cyclist

A Clark County grand jury has indicted a man in a Henderson collision that claimed the life of a bicyclist.

Roland Garcia is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in District Judge Jack Lehman's courtroom on charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident in the Oct. 10 incident on Sunset Road near Boulder Highway.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Booker said that when David Thompson was hit, he landed on the hood of Garcia's truck and was carried for a short distance before the vehicle made a rapid U-turn and left the area.