Court briefs for June 13, 2001

Wednesday, June 13, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

LV man gets 5 1/2 to 20 years

A 48-year-old Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty in April in connection with a fatal March accident was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 20 years in prison Tuesday.

Darwin Ellison pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in the death of Rosa Delegado, 58.

According to authorities, Ellison stole a company truck, got drunk and struck Delegado as she was getting into her car near Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard South on March 16.

Delegado was pinned against her car door. She was then run over by the rear tires of the 1979 International truck.

In exchange for pleading guilty to driving under the influence, causing death, prosecutors agreed to dismiss grand theft auto and leaving the scene of an accident charges.

Hearing set in telemarket case

CARSON CITY -- A Justice Court arraignment has been set for June 27 in Henderson for Richard Manuli, charged with 26 felonies in connection with a telemarketing scheme to bilk 22 out-of-state elderly people out of their money.

The state attorney general's office said Tuesday it has filed the criminal complaint against Manuli, who was arrested and was released on $15,000 bail.

Deputy Attorney General Ernest Figueroa said the victims lost more than $30,000. If convicted of all counts, Manuli could face a maximum sentence of 302 years in prison.

Figueroa said Manuli would call senior citizens and tell them they had won the Reader's Digest grand prize but they first had to prepay a "tax" on the prize money via Western Union. The unsuspecting victims would wire the money that would be picked up within minutes of arrival.

Manuli is charged with 19 felony counts of obtaining money under false pretenses against a victim 65 years old or older, five felony counts of attempting to obtain money under false pretenses against a victim 65 years or older, one felony count of unregistered telemarketing and one count of racketeering.