Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.
The man charged with breaking into a Henderson woman's home and forcing her to drive to an ATM to withdraw money early Sunday also allegedly confessed to a nearly identical crime that happened last month in northeast Las Vegas, police said."We interviewed him last night and he admitted to one here too," Metro Police Lt. Ted Snodgrass said Thursday.
Kenneth Bernard Ferguson, 28, of Las Vegas, is being held without bail at the Henderson Detention Center on charges including home invasion, robbery and kidnapping related to the Sunday crime, which happened in a quiet residential neighborhood near the intersection of North Pecos Road and Windmill Parkway.
Neighbors and police said the crime is surprising and unusual.
Henderson Police Officer Shane Lewis said that although home invasions do happen from time to time in Henderson, he can't remember a home invasion in which the victim was taken to an ATM.
Barbra Garcia, 29, who lives near the victim in Henderson, said news of the crime was scary, but she's glad a suspect has been arrested.
"My house is pretty secure so I feel pretty safe in this house," Garcia said.
Another neighbor, John Garcia, no relation to Barbra, said the crime will make him double-check doors and windows to make sure they are locked.
"It's kind of crazy because nothing like that has ever happened since I've been here," Garcia, 22, said. "It's already changed things. Now I make sure everything is locked up. Before we always left the back door open, or the windows open, but not anymore."
Snodgrass said home invasions are fairly common. Metro handled 149 cases through the end of September this year and the same number through the end of September in 2002, he said.
However, Snodgrass said, he only knows of the one case in Metro's jurisdiction in which the victim of a home invasion was taken from the home to an ATM.
Metro Police are preparing arrest warrants related to the Sept. 16 home invasion and kidnapping near the intersection of Sloan Lane and Lake Mead Boulevard near Nellis Air Force Base, he said.
In that incident, a woman in her 50s was awakened soon after midnight and taken to an ATM where she withdrew money for the man who had broken into her home.
Snodgrass said he expects to formally file criminal charges against Ferguson next week in connection with that case.
According to information from a Henderson Police spokesman and an arrest report filed with the court, around 4 a.m. Sunday a man used a screwdriver to force his way through a kitchen window at the back of the home on Arch Hill Street.
The 53-year-old woman living in the home awoke to see a man shining a bright light in her face. The man then asked her for cash and her purse, and the woman complied.
Then the man ordered the woman to lie down in the back seat of her car, and he drove her to a nearby ATM.
When they arrived at the ATM, the woman got out of the car and fled to a nearby gas station where she called police.
The man left the area in the woman's car, which was found later that day.
Shortly after midnight two days later, police arrested Ferguson after patrol officers came upon him walking around a nearby residential neighborhood with a flashlight, a power screwdriver and gloves, according to an arrest report filed in Henderson Justice Court.
Ferguson also has previous arrests related to burglaries, the arrest report said. According to District Court records, Ferguson pleaded guilty to robbery and burglary charges in 1996.
In the September incident, the woman took money from an ATM and gave it to the man, Snodgrass said. Then they both went back to the woman's home, where the man had the woman clean the house with bleach or laundry detergent in an effort to wash away any physical evidence.
The woman spent about two hours with her intruder that night, Snodgrass said.
"It was real bizarre," Snodgrass said.
Snodgrass and Lewis said there is no indication either woman was assaulted by the intruder. The intruder did not show the victims a weapon in either case, but did threaten to hurt them, the officers said.
Snodgrass said kidnapping charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Lewis said that while residents should not be overly concerned that this type of crime will happen again, he did recommend people call police if they see anything unusual in their neighborhoods.
He also recommended people keep their doors and windows locked, put a motion-sensor activated light on their home, and even get a dog to scare away potential burglars.
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