News briefs for April 9, 2002

Tuesday, April 9, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

Metro searching for suspect, 28

Metro Police today continued searching for a 28-year-old charged in Thursday's double slaying and sexual assault in a downtown home.

Timmy J. Weber, a seven-time convicted felon, is accused of killing his girlfriend and her 15-year-old son Thursday at her home on First Street near Bonanza Road.

Weber is also accused of sexually assaulting the woman's daughter, police said. A warrant is on file charging Weber with murder, sexual assault and kidnapping.

Another son entered the home Thursday afternoon and freed his sister, who had been bound in a bedroom. They escaped and contacted police.

When police entered the home, they found the woman and her son dead. Weber had fled the area.

Weber is described as a white man, 6-feet-4, weighing about 200 pounds and has bad teeth. He was last seen driving a 1991 Cadillac four-door car with Nevada license plate 500 NDG.

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

Former president to speak at UNLV

Former President Bill Clinton will speak at the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Clinton will speak at 7:30 p.m. April 29 at Cox Pavilion.

Past lecturers have included former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Lea Rabin, widow of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The lecture is sponsored by the Hank Greenspun School of Communication at UNLV. Barbara Greenspun is publisher of the Las Vegas Sun. The school is named in honor of her late husband, who founded the Sun.

Complaint filed against council

An open-meeting law complaint has been filed against the North Las Vegas City Council, accusing it of denying a resident the right to speak.

The state attorney general's office confirmed Monday it has received the complaint from Michael Thomas, a critic of the council who has made previous allegations of open-meeting law violations.

Thomas has complained that as he spoke during the public comment session, he was continually interrupted by the city attorney. He also complains that the public comment portion is placed at the end of the agenda.

The attorney general's office in early March warned North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon for refusing to permit Thomas to speak during the public comment time. Deputy Attorney General Aimee Banales said that future cases may be prosecuted by her office, which enforces the state's open-meeting law.

Thomas is not a North Las Vegas resident but is involved in legal action with the city and is a frequent critic of city officials.

Drug use is charged

The state Board of Medical Examiners said Monday it has suspended the license of Dr. Curtis DeFriez of Carson City after a complaint was filed that he was under the influence of drugs while treating patients.

The board said that to allow DeFriez to continue to practice while the disciplinary case was being processed "would endanger the health, safety and welfare of his patients."

The board said it took the emergency action during an April 1 telephone conference call.

Report says county missing equipment

Clark County was among six government agencies that couldn't find equipment purchased with federal money for anti-terrorism programs since 1998, according to a report released Monday by the Justice Department.

The Justice Department has failed to distribute more than half the hundreds of millions of dollars available to state and local governments for anti-terrorism programs since 1998, the report by the department's inspector general found.

The department hasn't awarded $141 million out of the $243 million Congress made available.

The money the department did give away includes $65 million that never was spent, plus $1 million spent on equipment that either has been lost, wasn't supported or never was given to firefighters in the field.

Clark County officials described $32,572 out of $400,000 worth of emergency equipment as missing or unable to operate, which was attributed to poor record-keeping, the report stated.

Supreme Court won't rehear case

The state Supreme Court said Monday it won't reconsider its February ruling that Nevada's prevailing wage law covers workers on government construction projects -- including workers not at the actual job site.

A rehearing had been sought by Granite Construction Co. following the earlier ruling that upheld an interpretation of Nevada's prevailing wage law by the state labor commissioner.

Nevada's prevailing wage law, based on federal law, guarantees prevailing wages to mechanics, workers and laborers on public works projects.

The case involved three rural Nevada road projects awarded to Granite in 1997 and 1998 by the state Department of Transportation.

Woman arrested in man's death

A 21-year-old woman accused of stabbing a man in the chest was booked into the Clark County jail this morning on a murder charge.

Jamie Hein is accused of killing a man at a home on Altamira Road, near Alta and Buffalo drives, late Tuesday.

Officers had been to the home several times during Tuesday night to quell disturbances, police said.

The slain man's name was not released this morning.

Charges filed in sex case

A Las Vegas DEA agent is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on 36 sex-related criminal charges after the Clark County district attorney's office approved the filing of charges late Friday.

Kinney, who has been suspended with pay by the Drug Enforcement Administration, faces both attempted statutory sexual seductions counts and attempted sexual assault of a minor counts.

According to court documents, Kinney, 42, propositioned 15 boys under the age of 16 between Jan. 1 and March 10.

Kinney is alleged to have written notes to the boys, wrapped them around small rocks and thrown them at the boys in stores. Each of the notes reportedly asked the boys if they would submit to a sex act for between $20 and $50 at another location.

Kinney, 42, was a firearms instructor for the DEA along with being a narcotics investigator in Las Vegas, and would travel often to Los Angeles. Kinney, a DEA agent since 1992, was suspended with pay on March 7, two days after the FBI and Metro searched his home.

Kinney remains free after posting bail.