News briefs for April 13, 2005

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 9:29 a.m.

Coroner rules teen killed herself

The 16-year-old girl who committed suicide Monday at Clark County's juvenile detention center has been identified as Brittany Nicole Kish of Henderson.

The Clark County coroner's office said today she hung herself and ruled the death a suicide.

Metro Police and staff from the coroner's office are investigating. Administrators from the county's Juvenile Justice Services Department also are conducting a review of the incident.

Chaparral student killed at park

The body discovered Monday morning in Maslow Park was that of an 18-year-old Chaparral High School student, officials said.

Jose Martin Castro was a senior at the school in southeast Las Vegas, a Clark County School District spokesman said.

He was discovered about 6:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the park near Harmon Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, Metro Police said. He was found by fellow Chaparral students.

Maslow Park has been the scene of gang activity in the past -- in 2001 a 9-year-old boy was accidentally shot by a gang member. Metro Lt. Tom Monahan said detectives have no evidence Castro was a gang member but are still investigating.

Monahan said Castro's body had been at the park no more than a few hours before he was found.

FBI agent in hot water over LV trips

A special agent at the FBI's Charlotte, N.C., bureau was accused Tuesday of lying about two expense-paid trips to Las Vegas he accepted from a cooperating witness in a criminal investigation.

Erik B. Blowers was named in a single-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court by a federal grand jury in Charlotte. He is charged with making a false statement on a routine financial disclosure form he had filed in October 2000.

Blowers was lead agent on an investigation of organized gambling and money-laundering in the Charlotte area that began in 1996, according to the indictment. Blowers became the handler for former cooperating witness David Simonini from November 1996 to January 1998.

In February 1999 the FBI's Charlotte office formally opened an investigation of allegations that Simonini was involved in loan fraud and money laundering.

The following year, the indictment said, Blowers took two trips to Las Vegas with Simonini. The trips were paid by Simonini, according to the indictment, and Blowers allegedly did not declare those trips.

Man sentenced in insurance fraud

A 31-year-old Nevada man was sentenced to a year in a Carson City jail and must repay $7,500 after pleading guilty to insurance fraud, Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Tuesday.

Ty Eric Weaver reported to Civil Service Employees Insurance that his 2001 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck had been damaged when it slipped off the road and fell into a ditch.

The damage actually occurred when Weaver went four-wheeling while under the influence of drugs and wrecked the vehicle, the attorney general's office said.

Nevada became one of 16 more states

on Tuesday to offer AARP dental insurance. As of Tuesday, the AARP dental insurance plan is offered in 38 states for those over 50 years of age. The insured is allowed to choose any licensed dentist and offers comprehensive family coverage.

Firefighters doused a fire in a garage

at a home in the 6900 block of Cobblestone Avenue, near Antelope Way and Westcliff Drive, about 7 p.m. Tuesday, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said. No one was injured and the cause of the fire was under investigation. There was moderate smoke damage inside the home and damages are estimated at $25,000, Szymanski said.

A fire in a two-story house in Summerlin

sustained about $125,000 in damage this morning after a blaze started in a small office in the home, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue officials said. The fire was reported just before 6:30 a.m. at the home in the 2300 block of Flower Springs Street. No one was injured.

A 2-year-old Las Vegas girl drowned

in a neighbor's pool Friday, coroner's officials said this morning. Cheyanne Jeffries was found in the pool Friday morning and was taken to the hospital, where she later died. Metro Police are investigating the incident.