News briefs for Dec. 23, 2002

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

Two killed in truck crash

Two people were killed in a one-vehicle crash Saturday night on Lake Mead Boulevard, east of Hollywood Boulevard.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jim Olschlager said a pickup truck driven by Samual Velasquez, 21, of North Las Vegas was heading west on Lake Mead Boulevard when it crossed into the eastbound lanes and flipped over about 11:30 p.m.

Velasquez and a 12-year-old passenger, Dawn Roberts of Las Vegas, were thrown from the truck and killed, Olschlager said. Roberts' 16-year-old sister, who was sitting in the middle of the front seat, was treated for minor injuries at University Medical Center and released.

Troopers are investigating whether alcohol might have been a factor in the crash, Olschlager said. The truck was going between 35 and 55 mph, and no one in the truck was wearing a seat belt, Olschlager said.

Suspect in several

robberies arrested

Metro Police arrested a man Saturday they believe was responsible for a string of robberies of fast food managers.

Erik Watson, 35, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, police said, after a bank teller identified his vehicle parked in a Summerlin bank parking lot as being linked to a previous robbery of fast food employees depositing money at the bank.

The driver of the car left the area, but officers stopped the vehicle. Police allege Watson admitted to detectives that he had robbed six fast food managers outside local banks, five of them in Metro's jurisdiction and in Henderson.

Watson was charged with five counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and one count of attempted robbery. Information on the Henderson robbery was passed on to Henderson detectives for follow-up.

Watson was a former employee in fast food restaurants and knew about the habits of other employees when it came to depositing money at banks, police said.

Guns recovered as pair arrested

The robbery of a Las Vegas doughnut shop Wednesday has led to the arrest of two men and the recovery of at least eight stolen firearms, Metro Police said.

Following the robbery, detectives released a video and asked the public for information. Through that information detectives started searching for Aaron Tripp, 25, and followed cars they said were connected to him. They said one car led to the arrest of Josef Keys inside a store wearing a shoulder holster with no gun. A ski mask and a 9mm Ruger were found inside the car, police said.

They said they were also led to a motel where they found nine firearms, eight of which were stolen from Henderson jurisdiction.

Tripp, whom police said they found lying on the floor of his girlfriend's car, was arrested Saturday on one count of attempted murder, one count of an ex-felon possessing a concealable firearm, one count of burglary with a deadly weapon and one count of robbery with a deadly weapon.

Man indicted in shootings

A grand jury has indicted a Las Vegas man in two shootings and a home invasion robbery.

In an indictment unsealed Friday before District Court Judge Mark Gibbons, Joseph Antonetti, 27, was charged with one felony count of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

He will have a hearing before District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure on Dec. 30. Antonetti remained jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Police allege Antonetti shot his roommate Nov. 5 during an argument and left her for dead. The woman survived and identified Antonetti as her assailant, police said.

Prosecutors also allege Antonetti shot a man and a woman in an unrelated incident.

State gets share of Ford settlement

Nevada will receive $300,000 as part of a nationwide $51.5 million settlement with Ford Motor Co., accused of deceptive trade practices in the sales and advertising of its sport utility vehicles.

Nevada and other states accused Ford of not telling consumers about failures of certain Firestone ATX and Wilderness AT tires that were on the Ford SUVs.

The state attorney general's office said the states will use $30 million to mount a nationwide public service consumer education campaign on SUV safety. The rest is being divided among the states. Nevada's share is $300,000.

The settlement comes a year after the states entered into a $51.5 million settlement with Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., which made tires that had a high rate of tread separation.