Six inmates face new charges in attempted escape

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.

Six inmates, most of them already charged with felonies including one murder, will be arraigned on new charges this week after a grand jury indicted them Friday in an attempted jail escape from Clark County Detention Center on Sept. 17.

Two of the inmates, Joseph Antonetti, aka Gozdziewicz, and Jack P. McLaughlin, were also indicted on charges they conspired to kill fellow inmate Nathan Godown after he helped them escape from jail.

The trio alone have 15 felony counts pending against them. Among other charges, Antonetti is awaiting trial for first-degree murder in a death penalty case, McLaughlin is in custody for attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, and Godown is charged with robbery and sexual assault.

Authorities say the three, along with inmates John Knecht and Charles Smith, broke the glass out of Knecht's cell window and lowered a makeshift rope made out of sheets nine stories to the ground. There, authorities allege Michelle Marie Garoian and Danielle Tito attached hacksaw blades, gloves and rope to the sheet. The inmates then lifted the tools back to the cell where the hacksaw blades were used to cut through the metal bars in order to escape through the window.

Bail was set for $300,000 for both McLaughlin and Antonetti, who face charges of attempted escape, possession by a prisoner of tools to escape, and conspiracy to commit murder. Bail was set for $100,000 for Godown, Knecht and Smith, who each face charges of attempted escape and possession of tools to escape. Garoian, recently arrested on a gross misdemeanor, now also faces one charge of aiding a prisoner to escape, with bail set at $50,000.

Grand jury proceedings are still pending against Tito, who was remanded Thursday in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom for a felony count of using a credit card without the cardholder's consent. The credit card case was supposed to go to trial this week but was postponed after Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo told Bonaventure he expects a jury to return an indictment against Tito in the jail escape soon.

DiGiacomo said authorities discovered the conspiracy of McLaughlin and Antonetti to commit murder against Godown through jailhouse conversations between McLaughlin and Tito.

At the time of the escape, Knecht was facing felony charges of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, while Smith was in custody for felony charges of burglary and/or invasion of a home.

Smith may have only been aiding the other inmates in their escape, DiGiacomo said.

"He was too scared of heights to shimmy down a nine-story rope," DiGiacomo said.

Antonetti's trial in the death penalty murder case is scheduled to start Nov. 17. The 27-year-old is charged with the death of Mary Amina, 20, the attempted murder of her boyfriend Danny Stewart, 30, and the attempted murder of his former roommate, 34-year-old Suzanne Smith.