News briefs

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 10:33 a.m.

Police probe shooting death of man, 33

A body found last Friday in the desert east of Las Vegas has been identified.

Jeffrey Lloyd Neslund, 33, was found dead about a mile off Lake Mead Boulevard near Sunrise Mountain Friday evening by two people riding all-terrain vehicles, Metro Police said.

An autopsy has confirmed the cause of death was a gunshot wound in the head, police said.

Anyone with information about Neslund's whereabouts and activities before Friday is asked to call police at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Man gunned down in NLV identified

The Clark County coroner's office has identified a man shot to death Monday night in North Las Vegas as Apolonio Garcia, 20, of Las Vegas.

Garcia was walking in the 2400 block of McCarran Street, near Carey Avenue and Pecos Road, when he was gunned down by shots from a passing car.

Plea bargain expected by LV doctor

Dr. Mitchel E. Phillips Wednesday waived a preliminary hearing in Justice Court in Las Vegas on five felony counts and one gross misdemeanor count of Medicaid fraud.

Phillips is scheduled to appear Nov. 18 in District Court and a plea agreement is expected.

Tim Terry, director of the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, said Phillips is accused of improperly billing for services he provided at two hospitals. He said the allegations were bolstered when a medical management company that oversaw Phillips' billings agreed to voluntarily refund suspected overpayments, which amounted to about $18,000.

Possible burglary reported at Rancho

Clark County School District Police are investigating a possible burglary at North Las Vegas' Rancho High School early this morning.

A spokesman for the district said an alarm indicating a break-in went off at about 12:20 a.m. at the school, located at 1900 E. Owens Ave.

School police immediately surrounded the area.

It was not known this morning whether anything was missing from the school.

Reno woman killed in EgyptAir crash

A pregnant Nevada woman who was on her way back to Egypt to be with family during the birth was among the victims killed in the crash of EgyptAir Flight 909, her employer confirmed Wednesday.

Gehane El-Shoura, 32, worked in JC Penney's lingerie department at Meadowood mall in Reno. She boarded the plane in Los Angeles.

El-Shoura had lived in Reno the past few years with her husband, Mohammad Mansour. A family friend told Reno's KOLO television that she was seven months pregnant and had decided to return to Egypt to be with family.

LV man charged in Maine incident

A Las Vegas man was charged Wednesday with killing a bald eagle in Maine's woods.

Leyland Weymouth, 60, was charged under state law with misuse of an endangered or threatened species. He could face a $100,000 fine and a maximum 18-month prison term.

He also will be charged under the federal Eagle Protection Act, Maine Warden Service spokesman Mark Latti said.

Maine's bald eagle population has rebounded from a low of 21 nesting pairs in 1967 to 202 nesting pairs in 1998, Latti said.

EPA gives Nevada grant to fight runoff

The Environmental Protection Agency is giving Nevada $840,000 in new federal funds to prevent polluted runoff from streets, parking lots, farms and urban areas into major lakes, such as Lake Mead.

The EPA approved on Wednesday the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection's plan to reduce polluted runoff over the next five years, EPA Region 9 Administrator Felicia Marcus said.

Such runoff, called nonpoint sources because flows come from many sources, also threatens the Humboldt, Walker, Truckee and Carson rivers in Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe.

Polluted runoff is now the nation's leading cause of water pollution in the United States. Motor oil, fertilizers and animal wastes affect rivers, lakes and streams.