News briefs for June 20, 2003

Friday, June 20, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

Guilty plea entered in fatal DUI

A Las Vegas man charged with driving drunk and hitting and killing a jogger on New Year's Day pleaded guilty to lesser charges in District Court on Tuesday.

Alberto Perez Ortega, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of DUI causing death and one count of leaving the scene of an accident, prosecutor Gary Booker said.

Prosecutors will dismiss involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving charges initially filed against him.

Ortega faces a two- to 20-year sentence on the DUI charge and a two- to 15-year sentence on the leaving the scene charge, Booker said.

Authorities say Ortega hit Russell Sheldon, 58, as Sheldon was jogging near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard North and Lamb Boulevard.

Ortega fled the scene after the incident. Tests taken later revealed that Ortega's blood alcohol level was about 0.23 at the time of the crash, Booker said.

Witnesses who saw the accident gave police a description of Ortega's Chevrolet sedan, which was badly damaged from the collision, the prosecutor said.

Fugitive from Texas arrested

Authorities on Wednesday arrested a man wanted in San Antonio in the knife attack on a cabdriver, Metro Police Sgt. Ted Lee of the Criminal Apprehension Team said.

Jose Armando Morales, 27, was found about 7:45 p.m. hiding under a swimming pool float in the back yard of a home near St. Rose Parkway and Seven Hills Drive in Henderson. Morales ran from the yard but was found nearby by a police dog, Lee said.

Morales is wanted in Texas on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault and had been in Las Vegas for about three weeks. He had obtained a Nevada identification card with a false name, police said. He was booked into Clark County Detention Center to await extradition to Texas.

The Criminal Apprehension Team is comprised of investigators from Metro and Henderson Police and the FBI.