News briefs

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 12:06 p.m.

Employees tied up by one gunman

Metro Police are searching for a man who held up an auto supply store Sunday and tied up the employees.

The suspect approached employees at the store at Decatur Boulevard and Alta Drive about 6:30 p.m., forced them at gunpoint into the manager's office and demanded money, police said.

The suspect bound the employees with duct tape and spoke into a radio or telephone using a hands-free microphone to an unknown person outside the store, police said.

The robber was described as black, about 25 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 135 pounds with black hair in braids that were seen sticking out of the bottom of a light blue ski cap. He also had his tongue pierced with a silver stud and was last seen wearing baggy blue jeans and a navy colored sweatshirt with a hood.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call Metro's robbery unit at 229-3591 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Two telemarketers put on probation

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle Thursday placed two telemarketers on probation for driving their car into two police officers while trying to evade arrest in Las Vegas.

John L. Campe, 46, of Las Vegas, had pleaded guilty to felony resisting a public officer with a deadly weapon, the vehicle. He was placed on five years probation but must serve 120 days in the county jail, make $2,450 in restitution and pay a $5,000 fine.

Terry L. Ford, 48, of Ukiah, Calif., pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor conspiracy to commit battery with use of a deadly weapon. He was placed on probation but must spend 90 days on house arrest and pay a fine of $2,000.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said both were involved in an illegal telemarketing scheme to bilk elderly citizens. They were in a parking lot of a Las Vegas supermarket on Oct. 17, 1996, when police officers tried to make an arrest.

Campe, the driver, took off in his Suzuki Sidekick, hitting two police officers, dragging one and knocking him to the pavement.

Two stores remove possibly tainted food

Costco and Trader Joe's grocery stores have removed all five-layered dips that might have contained the bacteria shigella that causes severe diarrhea.

The dips were the subject of a recent recall.

No cases of shigella have been reported in Southern Nevada, Clark County Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said Thursday. One confirmed case and seven suspected cases are reported in San Diego County.

Anyone with Senor Felix's Five Layered Dip or Trader Joe's Five Layered Dip should not eat it and are encouraged to return the product for a full refund, Trader Joe's spokeswoman Pat St. John said.

If a product is not a threat to public health, recalled items are donated to food banks, St. John said. "In this case, because it is a danger to the public, we destroy it immediately," she said.

Car strikes concrete barrier at channel

A 40-year-old Las Vegan died early this morning in a one-car accident on Nellis Boulevard at Gowan Road.

The driver lost control of the car and struck a concrete barrier protecting a flood channel about 12:55 a.m. The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected out of the driver's side window, Metro Police said.

The driver struck the concrete barrier, went through a chain link fence on top of the barrier and fell into the concrete flood channel. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The driver's name was not released this morning pending the family notification. This morning's accident was the fifth fatal accident in Metro's jurisdiction so far this year.