News briefs

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

Search continues for missing girl

The search for 7-year-old Karla Rodriguez entered its sixth day today.

Rodriguez was last seen playing with friends about 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Bonita Avenue, northeast of the intersection of Sixth Street and St. Louis Avenue, police said.

When she disappeared she was wearing a black jacket, blue and white shirt, and red pants. She is 3 feet 6 inches tall, 50 pounds with shoulder-length black wavy hair and brown eyes.

Police know that Rodriguez's mother walked her daughter about halfway to John S. Park Elementary School, 931 Franklin Ave., about 7 a.m. Wednesday from their home in the 700 block of St. Louis near Bonita.

Park Elementary School officials said that Rodriguez did not report to school Wednesday morning.

Anyone with information on Rodriguez's whereabouts is asked to call police at 229-LOST or 229-2907.

Pedestrian identified in fatal accident

A man who was killed on Oct. 17 when he was struck by a car at A Street and Owens Avenue has been identified as Vandalia Whaley, 73, of Winnemucca.

Whaley was hit by a 1999 Hyundai driven by Reginal Edwards of Las Vegas. No charges will be filed against Edwards, police said Monday.

Whaley ran into the street at about 3:20 p.m., witnesses said. He was hit by Edwards and died at University Medical Center.

Woman gets two years in abuse

District Judge Donald Mosley Monday placed Marie Dennis, 45, Las Vegas on two years probation Thursday for mistreating a 98-year-old patient at a care center where she worked in June 1998.

Dennis must complete impulse control and anger management courses and avoid any unauthorized contact with elderly persons.

Deputy Attorney General Mark Kemberling said Dennis force-fed the elderly man, causing him to choke and gasp for air. She then forcefully pushed his wheelchair out of the dining room, which resulted in his feet becoming entangled beneath the chair.

Dennis has surrendered her certified nurse assistant license, and the conviction will be submitted to the state Board of Nursing for permanent revocation of the license, Kemberling said.

Husband convicted in wife's death

A Clark County District Court jury convicted a 63-year-old Henderson man of second-degree murder Monday in the Dec. 21, 1998, suffocation of his wife.

District Judge Michael Douglas is scheduled to sentence Gilbert Sanchez on Dec. 13.

Sanchez was convicted of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon at the end of a trial that lasted more than two weeks.

The body of Tiofila Sanchez, 50, was found in the couple's bedroom in their residence in the 200 block of Spring Palms Street.

Sanchez had told police he and his wife had been involved in a heated argument the night of Dec. 21 and that he slept on the couch while she slept in the bedroom. He said she was all right when he left her.

Yucca hearing set for Carson City

The U.S. Department of Energy has scheduled an extra hearing on environmental impacts from a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

The hearing is set for noon Dec. 2 at the Nevada State Legislature building in Carson City. A second session the same day begins at 6 p.m.

The Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects had complained to the DOE that the state's capital, Carson City, was ignored when the federal agency scheduled 16 hearings in Nevada and around the nation. A month ago the DOE promised to add a hearing.