House sale key issue in suspect’s bail

Kim Smith

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

A Clark County district judge Tuesday ordered a murder suspect to turn over half of the proceeds he received when he sold the home he co-owned with the victim.

District Judge Mark Gibbons, however, said he would wait until next week to decide if Alfred Centofanti III's bail should be revoked.

Centofanti is charged with killing his former wife, Virginia, in December. He has been on house arrest since shortly after the incident. He obtained enough bail money through the sale of a home he owned with Virginia Centofanti.

Prosecutor Christopher Laurent asked that the bail be revoked because Centofanti committed two acts of fraud while selling the home.

Centofanti and Virginia Centofanti, 25, co-owned a condominium in San Diego even after their divorce on Dec. 12, 2000.

Upon Virginia Centofanti's death Dec. 20, her portion of the home was to go to her estate, Laurent said. Centofanti told his bail bond company he alone owned the home.

Worse, Laurent said, Centofanti later sold the condo.

Laurent said Centofanti, a business lawyer who has passed two bar exams, knew what he was doing was fradulent.

In fact, Centofanti successfully filed a motion to seal his divorce file in Clark County Family Court so no one conducting a title search could learn he did not own the home alone, Laurent said.

Daniel Albregts, Centofanti's attorney, told Gibbons that paperwork was filed by Centofanti's civil attorney without Centofanti knowing about it.

Centofanti did not know that his former's wife was entitled to half of the home's value, Albregts said.

Gibbons ordered Centofanti to give his former wife's attorneys more than $20,000 to put in an account for Virginia Centofanti's two sons.

The judge said he would decide Tuesday if Centofanti should be jailed.

Laurent also tried to have Albregts removed from the case.

Laurent argued that because Albregts wrote and signed an affidavit pertaining to the case, Centofanti waived his attorney-client priviledge and Albregts can be called to the stand.

Gibbons kept Albregts on the case but appointed a special public defender to the case should he decide at trial that the attorney-client priviledge was waived.

According to police, Centofanti shot Virginia Centofanti between five and seven times when she came to pick up their 4-month-old son for a visit on Dec. 20.

The baby is currently living with Centofanti's parents, and Virginia Centofanti's son from a previous relationship is living with her parents.