News briefs for February 27, 2002

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

Car smashes into street sweeper

A 24-year-old Las Vegas man died this morning after his car crashed into the back of a street sweeper on Tropicana Avenue near Harrison Drive.

The street sweeper was being driven about 5 mph in the right lane of eastbound Tropicana Avenue. Metro Police said the driver of a 1999 Mitsubishi Mirage failed to slow down or change lanes and crashed into the back of the street sweeper about 3:40 a.m.

The driver was taken to University Medical Center, where he died at 6:35 a.m. today. The driver of the street sweeper, Darren Schaffer, 34, had minor injuries, police said.

Pickup hits garbage truck

Metro Police detectives are reconstructing a Monday night fatal accident involving a garbage truck and a pickup on Desert Inn Road near Maryland Parkway.

The accident happened about 7 p.m. when a Republic Services of Southern Nevada truck backing out of a driveway onto Desert Inn was struck by a 1989 Chevrolet pickup headed east, police said.

John J. Held, the 48-year-old Las Vegas man driving the pickup, died at the scene, while the driver of the garbage truck suffered only minor injuries,police said.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case pending further investigation, but high speeds on the part of the pickup driver appear to have been a factor in the accident, police said.

Man sentenced in plot on daughter

James Leroy Gorman was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill his daughter.

The sentence was handed down by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Howard D. McKibben. The jury trial in Reno lasted for three days in November.

Gorman solicited an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed was a hit man, to kill his then 14-year-old daughter. The FBI's investigation lasted about three months and included numerous taped telephone calls between Gorman and the undercover agent, U.S. attorney for Nevada Daniel G. Bogden and FBI Special Agent in Charge Grant Ashley said.

Gorman indicated that he wanted his daughter murdered in order to avoid child support payments to his former spouse, the FBI said.

Police confiscate 33 weapons

Metro Police detectives confiscated 33 guns, including assault rifles and arrested an ex-felon on federal firearms possession charges Tuesday.

Kenneth Fortier, 43, who has been convicted for drug trafficking in Nevada, was arrested by SWAT officers at his mobile home in the 3400 block of Encina Drive, near Nellis Boulevard and Desert Inn Road.

As officers served a search warrant at the residence, Fortier tried to flee, then hid underneath the mobile home, Lt. Robert DuVall said. Fortier was arrested, and officers found 33 guns, including pistols, revolvers shotguns and rifles, as well as 500 to 700 pounds of ammunition and body armor inside the mobile home.

Woman's body found downtown

The Clark County coroner is working to identify the apparent victim of a homicide early Tuesday morning.

A woman's body was found about 2:30 a.m. at the intersection of 10th Street and Stewart Avenue in downtown Las Vegas. The cause of death has not yet been determined, police said.

Witnesses reported seeing a suspect walking west on Stewart from 10th when the body was found. The suspect is described as a stocky black man, about 5 feet 5 inches, 190 pounds, with collar-length hair, police said.

The man was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt similar to a chef's jacket, police said.

Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call police at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Senior facility gets preliminary OK

A 208-unit senior-living facility that would feature Boulder City's tallest building gained preliminary approval Tuesday.

The City Council approved the 29-acre project sandwiched between a mobile home park and a city airport flight path, at the corner of Adams Boulevard and Veterans Memorial Highway.

Mayor Bob Ferraro said the project would be a fulfillment of a city goal of three years -- to provide more senior housing for his city. Thirty percent of Boulder City's residents are age 65 or older, twice the percentage of other areas of Southern Nevada.

A proposed 45-foot high, five-story building would contain a second-floor lunch terrace with views to the dry lake, Damon Ohlerking, city urban designer, said.

A 43-year-old Las Vegas man

killed in a one-vehicle accident Sunday was identified as Joseph Ford. Ford was driving a Ford Explorer Sunday about 9:40 p.m. on Washington Avenue near Twin Lakes Drive. The SUV went off the roadway, hit a fire hydrant, a street sign and then a block wall, police said.