Men honored for stopping thief

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

When his next-door neighbors' garage door closed, Phil Floth knew their two children were in the house with someone who shouldn't be there.

It was about 2:30 p.m. on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and Floth was minutes from piling his family into their motor home for a trip to Utah when he saw his neighbor's car drive into the garage. Only, his neighbor wasn't in it.

Floth knew that Terry and Jenny Weaber's children were home alone, as Floth's wife had just brought their 8-year-old son home from school.

"I realized something was going on that was not kosher," Floth said.

He was right. Floth got the kids out of the house and he and two neighbors, Rick Martin and Bert Torres, surrounded the suspect and tackled him as he tried to run away. They held him for police.

The suspect, Victor Hugo Alarez-Prado, apparently stole Weaber's car, used the registration to find the address of the victim's house, then planned to come back and burglarize the house, getting in with the garage door opener.

The Henderson City Council honored Floth, Martin and Torres Tuesday night for their valor -- valor that police say that could have made them victims. They didn't know if the man was armed and they didn't know how dangerous the situation could be.

"Anytime you do something like that, you take the risk of running into someone who is armed and risking your life," Henderson Police Chief Michael Mayberry said. "So we would prefer, if it's a situation involving property, probably calling police and keeping an eye on what's going on."

However, he added, "They are heroes. We're proud to call them citizens of Henderson."

Floth said he realized the danger only afterward.

"I realize now it was a stupid thing, but I was running on adrenaline," he said. "I was kind of ticked off and I was working on emotions. I wasn't thinking."

After seeing the car go into the driveway, Floth, 38, went to the Weabers' and knocked on the door. After confirming that the Weabers were not home, Floth sent their two children to his house.

He saw Martin, and "I said, 'I have a situation here and I need your help,' " Floth said.

Then Martin, a 42-year-old Clark County School District fire alarm technician, and Floth, a physician's assistant, went unarmed into the Weabers' home on the 1300 block of Baychester Drive in southeast Henderson.

Martin said he didn't even think about the possible danger.

"It just happened so fast," Martin said.

Once inside the home, the two men went to the door leading to the garage and noticed the door-knob lock had been broken and someone was working on the deadbolt.

Floth unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. He saw a pair of shoes between a water heater and cabinet, but he couldn't see anything else.

Floth opened the garage door for light and went to confront the person.

"I went right up to him. Fortunately he didn't have a gun or anything," Floth said. Floth said the man had a screwdriver, and they later learned he had a pocket knife.

Torres, 43, an electrical substation operator, was waiting outside the garage door when it opened and questioned him in Spanish.

The stranger told the men he had just bought the car and was at the Weabers' to pick up the title, but the neighbors were suspicious and asked him to wait until police arrived.

Floth's wife talked to police dispatch on one line and Jenny Weaber on the other and asked Weaber if she knew that her can had been stolen. The stranger made a run for it, Torres said.

The three men tackled him and held him until police arrived.

"I brought back my old football days and lowered my shoulder and took him down," Floth said.

As they received the Citizen Heroism Award Tuesday night, Councilman Steve Kirk said the story sounded more like a movie than real life.

Terry Weaber said just thinking about what could have happened if his neighbors hadn't stepped in is frightening.

"It's been a nightmare," Weaber said.

Victor Hugo Alvarez-Prado, 22, of Las Vegas was charged with car theft, burglary and possession of burglary tools. He pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without consent and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20 before District Judge Donald Mosley, according to court records.

Since the incident, Floth has moved his registration from the glove compartment and hidden it somewhere else in his car.

Weaber said they now take their garage door opener with them when they park.

And they all make sure the doors to their garages are locked when they leave their homes.