Court briefs for February 27, 2002

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

Jury can't reach verdict in flare case

After a jury deliberated nearly five days, U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt declared a mistrial Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by a former Nellis Air Force Base airman who was severely burned when a box of countermeasure flares exploded in his face eight years ago.

Leavitt declared the mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision.

Eric Roll was seeking $31 million from the flares' manufacturers -- Tracor Aerospace Inc.

Roll's attorney, Gary Logan of Las Vegas, contended the flares, which help pilots avoid heat-seeking missiles, were defective.

Tracor's attorney, Ron Sprague of Texas, alleged the Air Force misused and mishandled the flares.

It was unclear if Roll will seek a second trial.

Four immigrants to be arraigned

Four undocumented immigrants indicted on charges of giving false statements and documents to gain employment at McCarran International Airport have been arrested and will be arraigned in U.S. District Court on Friday.

Mubarak Ali Karim Abd, Alsrap Abdul Karim, Shamshad Bagam Karim and Muhummad Qudeer Sharif have turned themselves in to authorities, officials in the U.S. attorney's office said.

Twenty-three people are now in custody after an investigation at McCarran by the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. attorney's office resulted in 27 indictments.

Seven indicted in casino scheme

An American citizen and six Romanian nationals have been indicted on allegations of credit card fraud at several Las Vegas casinos.

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court last week, the group knowingly used counterfeit driver's licenses and stolen credit cards to obtain cash advances at the Stratosphere, Venetian, Monte Carlo and Sahara.

Janice Curre, and the six Romanians, Ion Datcu, Liliana Furca, Daniela Murray, Gheorges Stefanis, Luiza Limona and Nor Dragu, are named in the complaint.

LV man indicted in fraud case

A Las Vegas man was indicted in Denver Tuesday on 78 counts of health care fraud and two counts of failure to file income tax returns.

According to the indictment, John Kenneth Hamilton, 51, ran a business that was responsible for conducting drug and alcohol tests for emergency rooms for patients injured while at work.

From May 1998 to February 2000 Hamilton allegedly submitted invoices for payment totaling $917,000 for tests he did not perform.

Hamilton could face up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of health care fraud.