Local news briefs for June 8, 2000

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | noon

NTS workers may join bill

Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid said they will offer an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act of 2001 to include Nevada Test Site workers injured from dust or radiation in proposed compensation.

Along with Reid and Bryan, Sens. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., are trying to amend the act to provide compensation up to $200,000 in a lump-sum payment for thousands of former and current workers at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

An earlier proposal covered residents living downwind of the Test Site who were exposed to radioactive fallout from above-ground nuclear weapons experiments. The new legislation would expand benefits to workers.

Man killed at apartment complex

A 23-year-old man was shot and killed at a Las Vegas apartment complex Wednesday, Metro Police said.

Johnny Wilkins Jr. was killed about 2:40 p.m. at the complex near the intersection of East Craig Road and Nellis Boulevard.

Police do not have a motive in the slaying.

Police are searching for a white male teenager about 5 feet 7 inches tall with blond hair cut short on the sides. The man was wearing a blue T-shirt and white, baggy shorts when spotted at the scene, police said.

Anyone with information about this crime can call homicide detectives at (702) 229-3521 or Secret Witness at (702) 385-5555.

Man shot in leg; one arrested

Metro Police gang detectives arrested an 18-year-old man Wednesday after a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg at a fast-food restaurant near UNLV.

Daniel Martinez was arrested at the Jack in the Box at Maryland Parkway and Tropicana Avenue after at least two shots were fired.

The victim and Martinez saw each other across the parking lot and exchanged words before the shooting, Sgt. Dan Stansbury said.

One bullet hit the victim above the knee. A friend drove him to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he was in stable condition this morning.

Both men are believed to be members of gangs and ran into each other at the restaurant, Stansbury said. No one else was injured.

Pit bulls attack jogging teenager

Police shot and killed two pit bulls Wednesday after the animals attacked a teenager jogging along a city street.

The 17-year-old girl was bitten on the leg by one of the dogs before she escaped. Her name was not released by authorities.

Witnesses said the dogs broke through a gate to the back yard of a house where they lived when they saw the girl jogging.

A neighbor then yelled at the dogs, who returned to the back yard.

Metro Police officers responding to the scene shot two of the dogs when they were attacked. A third dog was taken into custody by animal control officers.

Neighbors said they had complained previously about the dogs.

The owner of the dogs was arrested on charges of maintaining a vicious dog and possession of a stolen gun, according to Metro Officer Tirso Dominguez.

Two men arrested on fraud charges

Two Las Vegas men have been arrested on charges of bilking three investors out of more than $45,000 in a 1997 automated teller machine leasing and purchasing scam, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Wednesday.

Bernard J. Titony and Douglas K. Bawden are charged with securities fraud, sale of an unregistered security and transacting business as an unlicensed broker-dealer.

Heller said the victims invested $15,000 each to buy ATMs to be placed at specific locations and be managed by the ATM Store. The machines were never installed. Investors were told their money had been stolen.

The suspects, Heller said, issued promissory notes to be paid on March 15, 1998. But the notes were never paid, he said.