Local news briefs for February 8, 2001

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 11:33 a.m.

Couple accused of abducting children

Arrest warrants have been issued for a couple accused of secretly entering the Child Haven shelter and abducting their two elementary-school-age children on Friday.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has filed felony charges against the parents, David Pieri and Sheryl Zohlmann, for violating a court order that restricted the parents' custody rights.

The parents are charged with interference with custodial rights, and if found guilty could be forced to pay a fine of $5,000 and spend up to four years in prison, Senior Deputy Attorney General Brian Kunzi said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Pieri, Zohlmann or the children is encouraged to contact Metro Police Missing Persons Detail at 229-2907.

No trauma found on body in Wash

A man found dead in the Las Vegas Wash Tuesday does not appear to be a homicide, but his body does appeared to have been dumped there, Metro Police said.

There was no trauma found to 37-year-old David Ahern during an autopsy. Police suspect he may have died somewhere else and others, instead of calling police, took his body out to the wash in the 6100 block of Vegas Valley Drive, several miles past Nellis Boulevard.

There have been occasions when a person dies in a home that residents don't want the police to enter, and the body is taken to another location, said Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro's homicide unit.

Police track down money from robbery

Using an electronic tracking device, Metro and Henderson police were able to recover stolen funds and make an arrest in connection with a Wednesday morning bank robbery.

About 10 a.m. a man entered the Wells Fargo Bank inside a supermarket at 724 S. Boulder Highway and grabbed a teller, Henderson Police said.

The man then grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash from a bank drawer and fled the store on foot. While Henderson Police were searching for the suspect, a Metro helicopter picked up a signal from an electronic bait pack mixed into the stolen money, and pinpointed the car the signal was coming from.

The car was stopped on Racetrack Road and Blue Lantern Drive off Boulder Highway in the extreme eastern part of Henderson. The driver, Mark Balint, 36, was taken into custody and turned over to the FBI. Balint will be charged with bank robbery.