News briefs for October 27, 2004

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 11:20 a.m.

Man walking in travel lane killed

A 53-year-old North Las Vegas man was killed about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday while walking in one of the travel lanes on Las Vegas Boulevard near Lamont Avenue, Metro Police said.

Latasha Legans, 29, of Las Vegas was driving a 1998 Ford Escort and spotted the pedestrian at the last moment and swerved but was unable to avoid the collision, Metro Detective Corey Moon said.

Medical personnel pronounced the man dead at the scene. His name had not been released this morning by the Clark County coroner's office.

Internet scheme draws 21 months

A Henderson man arrested in August as part of a nationwide crackdown on Internet crime, dubbed Operation Web Snare, has been sentenced by a federal judge to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $78,881 in restitution.

Marc Allyn Kwasek, 39, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt after Kwasek pleaded guilty to access device and mail fraud.

Kwasek admitted to fraudulently establishing credit card accounts using fake names and the Social Security numbers of others from October 2001 through October 2002.

Kwasek further admitted to using stolen identification to establish business shipping accounts with United Parcel Service so that he could ship merchandise purchased from him over the Internet to customers free of charge.

Metro lieutenant faces DUI charge

A Metro Police lieutenant is facing an internal investigation after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving earlier this month.

Lt. Chris Van Cleef, who is stationed at the Southwest Area Command, was arrested Oct. 2 by the Utah Highway Patrol, authorities said.

Van Cleef is still on the job while the department conducts an off-duty conduct investigation, Deputy Chief Mike Ault said. He has been with Metro for more than 20 years.

Woman arrested in securities scam

A Las Vegas woman has been arrested on charges she bilked an elderly couple out of $30,000 in a securities scheme, Secretary of State Dean Heller said Tuesday.

Erlinda Sandoval Varize, 62, was picked up Monday by investigators from the state Securities Division on charges of sale of an unregistered security to a person 60 years old or older and one count of securities fraud against a person 60 years of age or older.

Police allege Varize enticed two family members to refinance their home and to use the proceeds to invest in a nonexistent bail bond company in Reno with a promise that the alleged victims would realize a return of 18 percent or greater.

Online seduction nets 5 years

An Anaheim, Calif., man has been sentenced to five years in prison after a jury convicted him of traveling to Las Vegas to have sex with a minor.

Kevin Eric Curtin, 43, was convicted on Aug. 3 of one count of travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor, both felonies.

Curtin was also ordered Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Jones to serve five years of supervised release after he has finished his prison term.

Curtin in February initiated Internet chats about sexual topics with someone he believed was a 14-year-old Las Vegas girl but who was actually an undercover Metro Police officer.

Group joins suit against U.S. 95

Another group has joined the fight against a Sierra Club lawsuit that could delay the widening of U.S. 95 from six to 10 lanes.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a Washington, D.C.-based transportation advocacy group, filed an amicus, or "friend of the court," brief last week in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting efforts to oppose the lawsuit.

The Sierra Club filed the lawsuit in 2002, claiming the Federal Highway Administration failed to investigate alternatives to the $370 million project.

A man who was was shot

and killed Sunday on a sidewalk near Rancho and Vegas drives has been identified as 30-year-old Eleuterio Salazar-Hernandez.

Boulder City Police

are moving their Drug Abuse Resistance Education office and Community Policing Center to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. St. Jude's donated space at its Boulder City campus to allow children there to become more familiar with police officers as positive role models and to make the ranch a safer place, according to a ranch statement. St. Jude's Ranch for Children has been working with abused, abandoned and neglected children in Southern Nevada since 1967.