Woman charged in fire at her home

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.

A 32-year-old North Las Vegas mother has been charged with arson and attempted murder in the fire that burned her apartment Tuesday night with her three children inside, North Las Vegas Police said.

Police allege Jennifer Mendoza had disabled smoke alarms in the apartment in the 2100 block of Las Vegas Boulevard North near Bruce Street.

Officers arrived at the apartment complex about 8:45 p.m. to assist North Las Vegas Fire Department crews with crowd control. As the fire was being extinguished, the mother and her three daughters, ages 5, 7 and 9 years of age, were evacuated.

All four were taken to University Medical Center and treated for smoke inhalation, then released, Roberts said.

North Las Vegas Fire Department investigators said the fire had been intentionally set in the kitchen.

Investigators also alleged that Mendoza intentionally set the fire to kill herself and her three daughters, NLV Police spokesman Justin Roberts said.

The children were taken into protective custody.

Mendoza was booked at the North Las Vegas Detention Center for one count of first-degree arson and three counts of attempted murder, Roberts said.