Court briefs for August 5, 2004

Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 | 10:04 a.m.

Bail in bus stop crash reduced

A 38-year-old man accused of being under the influence of alcohol when he allegedly failed to stop at a red light last year, crashing into a bus stop and killing a man, had his bail reduced to $50,000 from $200,000 on Wednesday.

John Olney is charged with DUI causing death, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and involuntary manslaughter for the Christmas Day crash that killed Bruce Kirton at a bus stop on Flamingo Road at Valley View Boulevard.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said because of the serious nature of the crimes Olney is alleged to have committed he could not release Olney on his own recognizance as requested, but could lower the bail.

Olney has no prior record and has lived in Las Vegas for the past 34 years In an effort to convince Bonaventure that he was not a flight risk, Olney said, "I've lived here all my life and turned myself in when I had to."

Olney is scheduled to stand trial on Sept. 7 before Bonaventure.

Man mistaken as fugitive

Because of a mix-up between the district's attorney's office and the Clark County Detention Center, the former principal of Moapa Valley High School was considered a fugitive for a few hours Wednesday.

After Daniel Reese failed to appear before Moapa Valley Justice of the Peace D. Lanny White, White issued a bench warrant for Reese's arrest. On July 29 Reese had been arrested and charged with three counts of felony theft. He is accused of embezzling more than $10,000 in school funds

Reese, however, was not evading justice this week. When he had been released on bond from the detention, he had been given a Sept. 1 date for his arraignment.

The district attorney's office had put Reese on the calendar for a Wednesday arraignment, officials later determined, so the bench warrant was quashed.

Dam chase yields 21-month sentence

A man who drove through a security checkpoint at Hoover Dam without stopping in 2003 was sentenced to 21 months at the North Las Vegas Detention Center last week by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson.

David Leroy Hamer had previously pleaded guilty to trying to run over a Bureau of Reclamation police officer about 1 a.m. on May 1, 2003. He then led police on a car chase into Arizona before he was arrested.

Hamer was also sentenced to three years of supervised release once he finishes his jail sentence.

Anaheim man guilty in sex case

An Anaheim, Calif., man was convicted Tuesday of traveling to Las Vegas with the intent to have sex with a juvenile and could now face up to 30 years in prison.

Kevin Eric Curtin, 43, is the latest to be convicted after investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Curtin used the Internet to chat with what he believed to be a 14-year-old Las Vegas girl and, after sexually explicit conversations, asked her to meet him at a casino bowling alley. The person he was chatting with was actually an undercover Metro Police officer, and when Curtin went to the bowling alley on Feb. 13 he was arrested.

Curtin is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 25 by U.S. District Judge Robert Jones.

The FBI, Metro Police and U.S. Secret Service make up the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.