News briefs for April 3, 2002

Wednesday, April 3, 2002 | 10:13 a.m.

Suspect wanted by feds, others

Metro Police's fugitive unit Monday arrested a man wanted by several other police agencies and who had assumed the identity of another person.

Detectives acting on a tip from an informant arrested Terry Hensley, 48, in northwest Las Vegas. Hensley was living in town under the name Doug Hall, Sgt. Dan Flaherty of the fugitive unit said.

Police alleged Hensley had about 40 fictitious identification cards and stolen credit cards at the time of his arrest.

Hensley has been on the run for about two years. He was wanted by the U.S. Secret Service on counterfeiting charges, U.S. Marshal's Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration on sale of marijuana charges, Northern Kentucky Drug Task Force on narcotics charges, Maysville, Ky., Police on theft charges and Metro on fraud and theft charges.

Hensley was held in the Clark County jail.

Claim says girl burned by nachos

A Las Vegas couple has filed a lawsuit against Del Taco restaurants, alleging nacho cheese caused second- and third-degree burns to their daughter.

According to the lawsuit filed by Robert Stone and Sharon Stone Tuesday in District Court, Brianna Stone suffered the burns on her thigh Aug. 14.

The family had ordered nachos and tacos in the drive-through of a local restaurant, and the cheese from the nachos spilled onto the girl's inner thigh.

Del Taco employees didn't warn the family about the temperature of the cheese, nor did the cheese container, the lawsuit states.

Calls to Del Taco's corporate offices were not returned prior to deadline.

Maid finds man dead in room

A man found dead in a downtown motel Tuesday may have been the victim of a homicide, Metro Police said.

A maid went to check on a man in a room Tuesday about noon at the Gateway Motel on Las Vegas Boulevard South and Charleston Boulevard who had not checked out. She found him dead, Metro said.

The man's name was not released this morning pending positive identification. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed today to determined the cause and manner of the man's death.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call Metro's homicide unit at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Ethics charges are filed

A persistent critic of the Clark County School Board has filed an ethics complaint against three of its members, alleging that businesses that contributed to their campaigns were rewarded with lucrative construction contracts.

In a letter dated Tuesday to the state Ethics Commission, Louis Overstreet complains that School Board members Ruth Johnson, Mary Beth Scow and Susan Brager-Wellman did not fully disclose their connections to various construction firms when voting on the contracts.

The commission only comments on ethics complaints after an investigation has taken place and there has been either a finding of wrongdoing or the allegations are not substantiated, a spokeswoman said.

Overstreet, fined $473.10 by the ethics commission in 2000 for filing a frivolous complaint against a School Board trustee, made his payment in pennies.