News briefs for Jan. 29, 2004

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

Man sentenced in bank robbery

A Las Vegas man was sentenced Tuesday to 78 months in prison for the July 1, 2002, robbery of a Colonial Bank branch at 4640 S. Fort Apache Road.

Frances Lamont Raines pleaded guilty to armed robbery after being charged in a federal indictment in 2002.

According to the indictment Raines was armed with a revolver and took $64,674 from employees at the bank.

Raines was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service and five years of supervised release.

Sports bets draw jail sentence

A 55-year-old Las Vegas man has been sentenced to a month in prison and five months of home confinement after pleading guilty to operating an illegal sports betting business in Las Vegas.

According to official records, Man Kit Yau received bets from people in Nevada and out of state from May 2001 through April 2003.

A U.S. District Court judge has also ordered Yau to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit $50,817 in cash and $14,175 in money orders that Yau admitted were profits from illegal gambling.

Except for regulated licensees, the law prohibits persons or their agents from knowingly placing, sending accepting or receiving wagers through any medium of communication to or from other persons in or outside Nevada, officials with the U.S. attorney's office said.

Strip club licenses on county agenda

The liquor licenses for two topless clubs were expected to come back to the Clark County Commission's liquor and gaming board agenda today.

A county spokeswoman and a lawyer for the operators of Jaguars, which reopened last week after closing in December, said the appearance of the club on the board's consent agenda is routine.

The County Commission stripped the liquor licenses from topless clubs Jaguars and the Leopard Lounge, formerly owned by Michael Galardi, in December after Galardi agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. The commission gave the clubs temporary liquor licenses earlier this month.

The charges are part of a federal investigation into a cash-for-votes scandal affecting politicians in Las Vegas and San Diego, where Galardi owned and operated topless clubs.

Judge to rule on new Lozano trial

A District Court judge will decide during a Feb. 5 hearing whether he will grant a new trial for a local man charged with killing a 9-year-old girl.

During a hearing on Wednesday, defense attorneys for Pascual Lozano argued that Lozano deserved a new trial because of jury and prosecutor misconduct and the discovery of new evidence. District Judge John McGroarty said he would take the issue under advisement.

Lozano, 24, was sentenced to death for firing the shots that killed Genesis Gonzales in a gang shootout near Civic Center Drive and Cheyenne Avenue.

During Wednesday's hearing, defense attorneys argued that a juror erred when she asked her husband the meaning of a Spanish word used by a witness during key trial testimony. The attorneys also claim a jailhouse informant who testified for prosecutors received favor from the state in exchange for his testimony.

Prosecutors deny any wrongdoing and say Lozano's conviction and subsequent sentence should stand. They say the issue involving the juror was not prejudicial enough to warrant a new trial for the convicted killer.

Driver sought in pedestrian's death

Metro Police detectives are asking for the public's help in finding a man whose car struck and killed a pedestrian who was walking in a crosswalk on Maryland Parkway near the Boulevard mall on Nov. 20.

The suspect is described as a light-skinned black man in his 30s, standing between 5 feet 7 and 5 feet 9 inches tall and between 180 and 190 pounds. He has short black hair and a short goatee. He drove a 1980 to 1990 white Cadillac.

Police said the driver hit the 18-year-old pedestrian, knocking the pedestrian into the path of a 2001 Ford Explorer. The driver of the Cadillac stopped and talked briefly to the driver of the Explorer and then left before police arrived.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or Detective Corey Moon at 229-3538.