Two held in blaze at Moulin Rouge

Jen Lawson

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Two Las Vegas men have been arrested on charges of setting the May 29 fire that destroyed the historic Moulin Rouge casino, a fire official said this morning.

John Antwan Caver, 29, also known as "Ant Man," and Fred Lewis Ball, 45, also known as "Bubba," were arrested Wednesday night near the Moulin Rouge, Las Vegas Fire Marshal Ken Riddle said.

Each of the two men is being charged with first-degree arson, and they are being held in the Clark County Detention Center, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Ball was identified by fire officials on Friday as a possible witness to the fire.

The district attorney's office is reviewing the case and is expected to formally charge the suspects this afternoon, officials said.

The suspects may also face federal charges because the hotel is on the national register of historic places.

Details about how the fire started, a possible motive, or how authorities concluded it was arson will not be released until after the district attorney's office reviews the case.

The arrests came 20 days after the fire that destroyed the Moulin Rogue, Nevada's first integrated casino. Five days into the investigation, authorities from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced the fire was intentionally set.

The Moulin Rouge, 900 W. Bonanza Road, opened in 1955. The hotel had been converted into apartments, and most were occupied when the fire started. The casino had been closed for some time and was undergoing renovations. A casino, restaurant and museum were planned, and owner Bart Maybie said he plans to rebuild.

Maybie had said he thought the blaze was set in retaliation for a recent crackdown on drug activity on the property. Within the past two months, Maybie had beefed up security patrols of the property, and Metro Police have acknowledged that the Moulin Rogue area is known for drugs and other crimes.

On Friday, Szymanski said investigators were looking for Ball, a former casino employee whom witnesses reported seeing outside the casino before the fire started. Szymanski said Ball was considered a witness who might be able to help with the investigation and not suspected of setting the fire.

Fire officials announced Monday they had located Ball, but declined to release any further information.

Szymanski said Wednesday that without the help from the ATF the investigation would have taken much longer.

"Sometimes we get questions as to whether Las Vegas is prepared for terrorism," he said. "Within 24 hours we had a national team here. This is unprecedented that (the suspects) were arrested within three weeks."

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