Only one murder charge likely in deaths of guards

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 9:45 a.m.

Prosecutors are losing hope that additional murder charges will be filed in connection with the March 2000 slayings of two armored truck guards in Henderson.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Monday that although more information has come to light through investigative grand jury sessions, he still doesn't have enough evidence to charge Luis Suarez in the deaths of Ricardo S. Sosa, 47, and Gary Dean Prestidge II, 23.

For months Roger has been meeting with grand jurors to investigate the actions of Suarez, 37, Jose Vigoa, 41, and Pedro Duarte, 37.

So far, only Vigoa faces murder charges in the deaths of Sosa and Prestidge. Duarte and Suarez have been charged only in connection with one casino heist each. Vigoa faces charges in four casino heists, although he is suspected in three others.

The three men, who are married to sisters, are suspected in a series of casinos robberies between June 1998 and June 2000 with the help of Oscar Sanchez Cisneros.

The men were arrested and charged with some of the crimes last year, but investigators soon began having trouble getting enough evidence to charge them with others.

The already complicated case took an unexpected turn when Cisneros committed suicide in the Clark County Detention Center after his arrest in June 2000 in connection with a heist at the Bellagio.

The 23-year-old had implicated himself, Suarez and Vigoa in the double homicide, but because he can no longer be cross-examined by defense attorneys, prosecutors cannot use his statement.

As a result, Roger and fellow prosecutor Frank Coumou have been using the grand jury process to compel sometimes reluctant witnesses to testify about their knowledge of the heists and slayings.

Roger said Monday the grand jury sessions have revealed holes in the alibis of the men for certain robberies and a conspiracy pertaining to getaway cars. It has not, however, gained them enough evidence to link Suarez to the armored truck guards' deaths.

"Right now there is insufficient evidence, but I never give up hope in criminal cases," Roger said. "There are always twists and turns."

No additional grand jury time has been scheduled, however, and Roger said he intends to spend the next month preparing for the men's preliminary hearing on the existing charges.

As for the getaway car conspiracy, grand jury transcripts released last week show Roger has been focusing his attention on an illegal immigrant he believes helped Vigoa and the others steal 12 rental vehicles -- some of which were used to escape from the fatal Henderson shooting.

The former Thrifty Car Rental employee claims that although he was working outside during the midnight shift Jan. 2, 2000, he never saw or heard the car hauler used to steal the vehicles.

Authorities believe a car-hauler was used, because one of the men's co-workers saw one about 2 a.m. that day, but assumed the driver was dropping off or picking up rental vehicles.

The employee also denies seeing whoever cut a 6-foot hole in the fence, through which the cars were driven.

The 27-year-old man said it is a coincidence that within days of the theft he was driving a new car, which had payments equal to nearly half of his monthly take-home salary. He also testified it is a coincidence the car was repossessed shortly after Vigoa and his brothers-in-law were arrested.

When asked if he was aware he had failed a polygraph test, the employee said he was willing to take another one.

Roger told the grand jury that he was not asking them to indict the employee, but that he was using the grand jury process to prompt the man's testimony.

Still, Roger said, the man wasn't "off the hook yet."