Thursday, May 30, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.
Joshua Isaac Nichols, the son of Terry Nichols, who was convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing, was arrested by Metro Police last month in connection with the alleged kidnapping and robbery of a local resident.
Last month's arrest was the third for the 19-year-old Las Vegas resident since January 2001.
According to a Metro police report, Nichols was arrested on conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery and battery charges on April 20. He also faces four counts of possession of a credit card without the owner's consent.
The police report alleges that a 25-year-old Las Vegas resident went to Nichols' home near Eastern Avenue and Warm Springs Road on April 12 to pick up a woman and drive elsewhere to purchase drugs.
The alleged victim, the woman and Nichols drove to a car wash but returned to Nichols' home when Nichols received a cell phone call. While sitting in a car at the home, the man alleges, he was beaten by three men.
Nichols stayed behind when the alleged victim said he was driven out into the desert and forced to disrobe. One of the men kept shooting the ground at his feet and asking him questions he said he didn't know the answers to, according to the police report.
The man said he was robbed of $240 and jewelry and driven around in the trunk of his car. Eventually, he told police, he was dumped in the desert near Primm and his captors took off in a second car after throwing his car keys into the desert.
After retrieving his keys and his shorts, the man said, he drove back to Las Vegas.
According to the police report, when police questioned Nichols they found a crack cocaine pipe in his pocket and numerous forms of identification belonging to other people in his room.
The officers also found what they believe to be evidence of a methamphetamine lab in Nichols' room, the police report states.
Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said the case was forwarded to the District Attorney's Office in the hopes formal charges would be filed. However, the case was sent back to Metro for further information.
Nichols is currently in the Clark County Detention Center.
Metro Lt. John Alamshaw said detectives are continuing their investigation.
"The victim refused medical treatment, but there are photos that indicate he received substantial injuries all over his body," Alamshaw said.
It wasn't the first brush with the law for the younger Nichols, who was 14 when his father was convicted and sentenced to a no-parole life sentence for his part in the April 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building that resulted in 168 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Terry Nichols is still awaiting trial on state charges in that case.
Joshua Nichols was arrested in January 2001 on felony reckless driving and felony evading police charges and again in February 2002 on burglary and grand larceny charges.
The reckless driving and evading police charges came when Nichols drove through a 15 mph school zone at 45 miles per hour and led a motorcycle officer on a high speed chase, according to police reports.
"He said that he had fled because he thought that everyone was out to get him," Officer Mike Surick wrote in his report. "I asked him why he thought that and it was then that he told me that he was the son of Terry Nichols."
Nichols pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and evading police. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, given a $400 fine and ordered to attend traffic school.
The February arrest came as the result of a theft of a $600 scooter from Jay's Market on Eastern Avenue, according to police reports.
Nichols was scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court this morning on the burglary charge.
Lana Padilla, Nichols' mother and the former wife of Terry Nichols, declined to comment, referring all calls to defense attorney Dominic Gentile. Gentile also declined to comment on the cases.
Padilla was divorced from Terry Nichols in 1990 after nine years of marriage.
Joshua Nichols moved to Las Vegas in 1992 to be with his mother and Terry Nichols lived in Las Vegas off and on in 1991, 1993 and 1994.
In a 1996 interview with the Sun, Padilla said her son was having a hard time adjusting and was constantly in and out of school because of those difficulties.
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