News briefs for May 21, 2002

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 | 10:03 a.m.

Las Vegan pleads guilty in murder

A Las Vegas man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a convenience store clerk who died four months after being struck in the head during a robbery.

Elworth Sargent also pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in connection with two unrelated convenience store robberies, Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said.

Sargent faces a possible sentence of 10 to life or 10 to 25 years in prison on the murder charge and four to 30 years for the robberies. Had he been convicted of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, he could have received a no-parole life sentence.

Kane said the store clerk, Dong Kim, died in July after being beaten into a coma during a March 20 robbery.

Sargent's co-defendant, Justin William Brooks, is expected to take a deal Thursday.

Slain woman is identified

A woman stabbed to death in her southwest Las Vegas home last week has been identified as Latasha Pamplin.

Her husband, 31-year-old John Pamplin, was booked on a murder charge but remains in University Medical Center in fair condition.

John Pamplin is accused of stabbing his 30-year-old wife to death about 11 p.m. Thursday in their home in the 8800 block of Quail Country Way near Desert Inn Road and Durango Drive.

John Pamplin had some wounds when officers arrived, but police are unsure how he sustained those injuries.

Relatives are caring for the couple's three children, who were home at the time of the stabbing.

Man dies in crash with bus

A North Las Vegas man driving a blue Ford minivan died after his vehicle jumped a center divider on Martin Luther King Boulevard about 3:45 p.m. Monday and crashed head-on into a school bus, North Las Vegas Police said.

The Clark County School District bus was not carrying children at the time, police said. The driver of the minivan, Jesus Varela-Cota, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The minivan was northbound in the 4300 block of Martin Luther King, witnesses told officers, when it jumped the divider.

Police are investigating. The school bus driver had minor injuries, police said.