Las Vegas news briefs for March 8, 2001

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

Three homeless men were charged Wednesday for the slaying of a 67-year-old woman in her home in January.

Robert Lee Whitesell, 33, Troy Schnable, 45, and Ernest M. Valezquez, 39, were booked into the Clark County jail on murder, burglary and robbery charges, Lt. Wayne Petersen of Metro Police's homicide unit said.

The men are accused of breaking into Tiffany Averill's home in the 1200 block of North Lamb Boulevard on Jan. 15 about 4 p.m., stealing a gun collection and slitting her throat, Petersen said.

One of the men apparently had been in the home before, visiting Averill and her husband, who was in a hospital at the time of the slaying, Petersen said.

Police found items stolen from the home in possession of at least one of the men, Petersen said.

Whitesell, in the jail on another charge, was rebooked on murder and other charges Wednesday. Schnable was arrested Wednesday afternoon working as a temporary laborer at a trade show on the Strip, and Valezquez was arrested Wednesday night at University Medical Center, where he was visiting a girlfriend, police said.

Bail raised for day-care worker

RENO -- A videotape seized from a Reno day-care worker who is accused of sexually assaulting toddlers allegedly shows him committing hundreds of sex acts with a child, prosecutors said Wednesday.

A judge granted the prosecution's request Wednesday to increase bail for Gary Hanneman to $250,000, citing comments the suspect allegedly made to police about his inability to stop molesting children.

Gary Hanneman faces 10 counts of sexual assault and pornography-related charges, eight of which carry maximum penalties of life in prison.

Police say that since his arrest Feb. 23 he has admitted molesting as many as 27 children, most of them at the Children City Learning Center, where he worked since May 1999.

His attorney, however, said parents of several children at the center continue to defend the 33-year-old Hanneman as a kind, gentle man.

Washoe Deputy District Attorney Cheryl Hier-Johnson said the 10 counts filed focus on only two toddlers.

State's snowpack below normal

Nevada's snowpack is below normal in most areas of the state, with the exception of the Spring Mountains, 30 miles west of the Las Vegas Valley, the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service reported Wednesday.

The Spring Mountains are above the 30-year average, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the snowfall is not filling the Colorado River above Lake Powell, which is currently below average.

Lake Mead, because of recent demands for hydroelectric power in California, is slightly above average, drawing down upper basin reservoirs such as Powell.