Man indicted in robbery, slaying

Jace Radke

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

A federal indictment has been handed down in connection with the 1999 armed robbery of a Las Vegas jewelry store that ended with a security guard being shot and killed.

Vu Nguyen is alleged to have fired a semiautomatic assault weapon during the Sept. 16, 1999, robbery of Chong Hing Jewelers at the Chinatown Plaza.

Kenneth Bailey, a 37-year-old security guard from Henderson, was shot and killed during the robbery that netted $1.72 million in watches.

Nguyen is charged with conspiracy, interference with commerce by violence, use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death and aiding and abetting.

In 2001 a California man, Anh The Duong, and 10 others were indicted in U.S. District Court in California for a series of robberies including the Chong Hing robbery. Duong is accused of being the leader of a criminal gang that operated from November 1993 to March 2001.

He is also named in the Nguyen indictment as an alleged accomplice in the Chong Hing robbery.

The robbery took place about 11:30 a.m., when Bailey was met by two men as he walked into the parking lot from the jewelry store, Metro Police said. Two men pulled up in a car and shot Bailey with assault weapons before running into the store and robbing it. The two men wore loose-fitting clothing and were in the store for as long as three or four minutes before making their escape.