News briefs for July 7, 2004

Wednesday, July 7, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

Woman arrested after man shot

North Las Vegas Police arrested a 66-year-old woman this morning after a 69-year-old man was shot in the stomach during a domestic dispute.

Officer Tim Bedwell, spokesman for the department, said the man called 911 about 1:45 a.m. and said he needed an ambulance, and then the call disconnected.

As with all 911 hang-up calls, the operator called back. A woman answered and said the prior call was a mistake. The dispatcher sent a police officer to the home in the 4300 block of Beach Cliff Avenue near Lone Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard.

On the way to the house, the officer spotted a driver going through a stop sign in the area, stopped the car and found a man who had made the 911 call in the passenger seat. Police said he had a gunshot wound in the stomach.

Police arrested the driver, Laverne Goldberg, on a charge of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, Bedwell said.

Fatal shooting called gang-related

A 19-year-old Las Vegas man died Sunday from a gunshot wound in a shooting that appeared to be gang related, Metro Police said.

Jose Betancourt was shot in the abdomen in the 4100 block of Poe Drive and driven by friends to the 4300 block of Vornsand Drive, where Metro patrol officers responded to a 911 call. Betancourt died an hour later at University Medical Center, according to the coroner's office.

Metro Sgt. Kevin Manning said the shooting appeared to be gang related, judging by "gang tattoos" on the victim's body. Manning said homicide detectives learned that the shooting was a result of an argument between friends of Betancourt and a 14-year-old boy earlier in the day.

Police are looking for the dark-haired boy, who Manning said is about 5 feet tall.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or Metro homicide detectives at 229-3521.

Former schools chief charged

The former superintendent of one of the country's top school districts was charged Tuesday with embezzling more than $1 million for such things as airline flights, cruises, dermatology treatments, furniture and jewelry.

The arrest of Frank Tassone, 57, now a Henderson resident, came a month after similar charges were filed against Pamela Gluckin, a former assistant superintendent also accused of taking more than $1 million from the Roslyn School District on New York's Long Island.

Tassone, who was superintendent for more than a decade, retired days after Gluckin was charged.

The school district, less than 20 miles east of Manhattan, is considered one of the finest in the nation. More than 90 percent of its graduates go on to college.

Prosecutors said 10 to 20 other people eventually could be implicated. The school board said it has found nearly $8 million in suspicious spending over the past several years.

Tassone pleaded innocent and was freed on $50,000 bail. If convicted, he could get 25 years in prison.

Reilly receives 2.5 percent raise

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly received a contract extension and 2.5 percent raise from the County Commission Tuesday.

Reilly, who two weeks ago turned down an offer from Orange County, Calif., to take over that county's government for more than $200,000 annually, will now make about $184,000.

The vote to grant Reilly's raise, which mirrors the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' yearly increase in Western consumer costs, was unanimous. Along with the raise, the commission extended Reilly's three-year contract by another year.

Pahrump man dies in crash

A 46-year-old Pahrump man died about 6 p.m. Tuesday in a head-on crash on State Route 160 about 16 miles west of Interstate 15, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

The man was heading toward Las Vegas in a 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck when it crossed into the northbound lanes into the path of a 1989 GMC Sierra pickup, Trooper Loy Hixson said. His name has not yet been released.

The driver of the GMC, a man from Beatty, is being treated at University Medical Center for non life-threatening injuries.

Red Springs picnic area to be redone

Bureau of Land Management officials say they plan to close today the Red Springs picnic area within Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area so the site can be restored.

It will take about nine months to complete the $1.5 million project funded by BLM land sales through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said.

The project will be completed in four phases.

The first phase includes removing the existing road, old parking lots, picnic areas and fencing, Cannon said.

The second phase will bring new fencing throughout the wetland and riparian areas, including restoring the old road and the picnic area to a more natural setting.

Third, BLM crews will build a trail around Red Springs that will tie into the existing hiking trails.

In the fourth phase, two new toilets, six picnic sites and a paved parking lot will be completed.