News briefs for October 23, 2001

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2001 | 8:58 a.m.

18-year-old arrested in killing

An 18-year-old man booked into the Clark County jail Monday is accused of stabbing a 23-year-old man to death earlier in the day.

Michael Kane surrendered to Metro Police homicide detectives about 9 a.m. Monday. He was then booked on one count of murder, police said.

Kane is accused of stabbing 23-year-old John Trowbridge several times while the two were were visiting two other men in a house in the 5200 block of Koa Avenue, near Flamingo Road and Nellis Boulevard,Monday, Metro Police said.

The two male residents of the house witnessed the attack, which took place about 2:30 a.m., police said.

Trowbridge was taken to University Medical Center, where he died at 3:03 a.m., hospital officials said.

Man found guilty in girlfriend's death

A Clark County jury on Monday convicted a 33-year-old man of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his girlfriend.

Glenford Ennis faces a possible life sentence in the murder of Michelle Welch, 27.

According to police, Ennis stabbed Welch to death March 30 at her home in the 3700 block of Nairobi Lane near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alexander Road.

Ennis, who was also convicted of coercion and attempted murder for an earlier incident involving Welch, will be sentenced by District Judge Nancy Saitta Dec. 17.

NLV will go to arbitration

The city of North Las Vegas has given up on an appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court and will grant two former North Las Vegas Police officers an independent review into their terminations, which occurred more than two years ago.

Former police officers Mike Thomas and John Armstrong have been fighting the city since they were fired in 1999.

The city and police union refused to grant arbitration, saying the decision to fire them was proper and that the union's collective bargaining agreement does not mandate an independent review.

In July 2000 a District Court judge ordered the city to grant the men arbitration, a decision in which the city appealed to the Supreme Court the following month.

City Attorney Sean McGowan said Monday that because a year has passed without a decision, the city decided to give up on the appeal. The union also has agreed to arbitration.

Small plane runs out of fuel

A pilot flying a small rented plane apparently ran out of gas and struck a light pole as he landed on a roadway near Lake Las Vegas Monday night.

The pilot was the only one in the plane, and he walked away from the hard landing with no injuries, public safety officials said.

The man had rented the single-engine plane at the North Las Vegas Airport and set it down on Lake Las Vegas Parkway, off Lake Mead Drive, about 7:30 p.m.

The Henderson Fire Department and Metro Police responded to the crash, and found that one of the plane's wings had clipped a street light pole.

Five suspects facing charges

Three people are facing multiple felony charges after Henderson Police uncovered what they said was a check and forgery ring.

Two others were charged with trying to cash counterfeit checks, Henderson Police Officer Terry Bowler said.

Mickey Juliano, 36, Breck Smith, 35, and Sharon Greterman, 31, were arrested last week after an investigation sparked by the arrests of Richard Napolitano, 26, and Alison Burnstein, 25, Bowler said.

Napolitano and Burnstein were accused of trying to cash counterfeit checks early last week at the Sunset Station casino in Henderson.

Bowler said detectives later raided a Henderson home and found more than 50 counterfeit checks from Henderson and Las Vegas businesses and the state of Nevada, along with chemicals that can be used to "wash" checks.

Juliano and Greterman were each charged with forgery, identity theft and possession of stolen credit cards.

Smith was charged with identity theft and using another identity to avoid prosecution.