Robbery suspect faces charges in plot to escape

Keith Paul

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

A rudimentary sketch with notes detailing an escape plan from the Clark County jail led investigators to believe the alleged leader of a deadly robbery gang was trying to break out with others, Metro Police officials said Thursday.

The sketch was found in the cell of Jose Vigoa -- who faces the death penalty if convicted of charges pertaining to a double homicide -- after the toilet in his cell was taken apart.

The Sun first reported on Wednesday the thwarted escape plan and that jail officials found a fist-sized hole in the window of Vigoa's cell covered by a metal plate.

"He used the word 'we' on the diagram, but (investigators) haven't identified those people at this point," said Lt. John Alamshaw of Metro's robbery unit. "We don't have any indications that anyone was helping him. The only thing we have that others may be involved were on that piece of paper."

The diagram found in Vigoa's cell was titled "A little brief about our plan" and shows where the suspects apparently planned to jump off the sallyport roof about 30 feet from Vigoa's window.

"Here is where we're going to jump down in this corner, about 20 feet down," notes accompanying the diagram state. "Two electric metal door where police drive to enter the jail. The roof that you could see down about 30 feet from my window."

Vigoa's cell is on the fifth floor about 30 feet from the roof of the sallyport. It is another 20 feet to the street.

The diagram also points out surveillance cameras that focus on police cars as they enter the gates. The notes also showed where pigeons slept and advises, "start practice jump in the room everyday to develop strong knee muscle."

Alamshaw said the notes indicate an attempt to escape from the jail and not a plan to try to use the window to smuggling a weapon into the jail.

When the hole in the window was found about 5 p.m. Monday, Vigoa denied any knowledge of it, according to a police report.

Vigoa, 42, is accused of loosening a metal plate that had been bolted over the window due to prior damage. A corrections officer found a sticky substance on the top and bottom of the plate. He removed it, revealing the 6-inch by 3-inch hole, the report states.

About two months ago corrections officers found that the metal frame from a mirror in another cell in Vigoa's pod had been removed, but officers were not able to find the metal frame at that time.

Two chrome-plated metal rods were in Vigoa's cell "behind the existing sheet metal that was still covering the left portion of the window," according to the report. These were believed to be the missing pieces of the mirror frame, the report states.

Another piece of metal was found on the outside ledge of the window, the report states. Officers also took two containers from Vigoa's cell labeled "Blue Magic" -- one that contained a blue hair gel and "the other containing a black sticky substance which was probably used to hold the steel plate in place," the report states.

Corrections officers searched Vigoa's cell Monday after jail intelligence officers received information that an inmate in Cell 5C1 -- Vigoa's cell -- was going to try to escape. Vigoa had been in the cell for about six months and did not have a cellmate.

There were two fights on the ninth floor earlier Monday that corrections officers suspect may have been a possible distraction to help with the escape plan, the report states.

Vigoa appeared Thursday in Las Vegas Justice Court on the attempted escape charge under heavy security. The judge cleared the courtroom when Vigoa appeared, leaving only attorneys, security and the media.

Alamshaw said security -- already high around Vigoa when he goes to court -- will be increased.

Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen, who represents Vigoa, would not comment on the attempted escape allegations.

Vigoa, arrested June 7, 2000, is scheduled to go to trial July 8 on 46 felony counts pertaining to a double homicide in Henderson in March 2000 and a series of casino heists.

The Cuba native is charged with murder in the slayings of armored truck guards Richard Sosa, 47, and Gary Dean Prestidge II, 23, who were killed while being robbed outside the Ross Dress-for-Less store in Henderson.

Vigoa could receive the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges.

Police also believe Vigoa robbed the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Desert Inn and Mandalay Bay between June 1998 and June 2000 with the help of his two brothers-in-law and a fourth man.

Vigoa's brothers-in-law, Pedro Duarte and Luis Suarez, will be tried separately after Vigoa's trial.

Duarte, 37, faces seven counts in connection with the June 28, 1999, robbery of the Desert Inn, and Suarez, 37, faces 14 counts in connection with the robbery at the Bellagio.

The fourth suspect in the case, Oscar Sanchez Cisneros, 23, committed suicide in the jail four months after his arrest in June 2000.