News briefs for August 16, 2005

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

Oregon man gets six-year sentence

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Portland, Ore., man to more than six years in prison for laundering the proceeds of an interstate prostitution business that also involved a Portland-based attorney, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt sentenced 34-year-old Jonathan Duke Flake, aka Caribbean, to 77 months for running a prostitution business that recruited young women in Portland to work as prostitutes in Las Vegas, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Flake pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering in May. Prosecutors said the prostitutes gave Flake their earnings through wire transfers from Las Vegas to Portland and deposited them into bank account owned by Oregon attorney Cheryl Chadwick.

Chadwick, in turn, paid for Flake's attorney's fees and car and rent payments, the U.S. attorney's office said. Chadwick also pleaded guilty to money laundering and is awaiting sentencing.

Flake reportedly admitted to meeting a 17-year-old girl while she was in high school in Oregon and convinced her to work as a prostitute in Las Vegas, prosecutors said. He used "physical force, fraud and coercion" to get her to work as a prostitute, the U.S. attorney said.

Iris recognition to be used by police

Metro Police have unveiled a new, cutting-edge database using iris recognition that will be used to find missing children and adults.

The Children's Identification and Location Database, or the CHILD Project, is a secure network and registry using iris recognition biometric technology, which the department said was the quickest and most accurate identification technology available.

According to the Justice Department, more than 2,000 children are reported missing each day in the United States and there are currently more than 47,000 missing adults.

Using iris recognition, the CHILD Project will help law enforcement rapidly identify missing children and adults, a spokesman said.

Metro is the first police department in Nevada to install this technology.

Memorial service set for toddler

A memorial service will be held on Thursday at Woodlawn Cemetery for the 2-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who died because of neglect.

The service for 2-year-old Adacelli Snyder will held at the 10 a.m. at Woodlawn Cemetery, 1500 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

Snyder was found dead in her family's mobile home on June 29. Her mother, Charlene Snyder, has been charged with second-degree murder and multiple counts of child neglect in connection with the death and the alleged neglect of Adacelli's three siblings.

Adacelli was buried last week in an unmarked grave in Woodlawn Cemetery. There is now an effort to purchase a headstone or other grave marker.

An account has also been established in her name. Any donations can be given at any U.S. Bank branch under the name Adacelli Snyder.

California fugitive arrested in LV

A man wanted for armed robbery in Anaheim, Calif., was arrested Monday after barricading himself in a room at a Budget Suites on Paradise Road near Twain Avenue.

Just after 10 a.m. officers on patrol spotted a vehicle in the parking lot that had been reported stolen, then they spotted a man matching the suspect's description, Sgt. Chris Jones, police spokesman, said.

California authorities had described the suspect, Clarence Thomas, as armed and dangerous and he said in the past that he would get into a shootout with police if confronted, Jones said.

Thomas ducked into a room and would not come out, police said. Metro's SWAT team and negotiators were called, and Thomas surrendered peacefully about 1:30 p.m.

A woman was found in the apartment with Thomas. Police said it does not appear she was being held against her will. She was not arrested.

Dead elderly woman identified

The elderly woman who had gone missing from a retirement community only to later be found dead near a parking garage on West Charleston Boulevard was 69-year-old Lucretia Paz, the Clark County Coroner said this week.

Paz was found dead near the corner of a parking garage at 1701 W. Charleston on Aug. 5 about two blocks from the retirement community where she had lived.

Paz was reported missing from the Charleston Retirement & Assisted Living Center on Aug. 2, said Pam Bustillos, business manager for the center.

The coroner's office has not yet established the official cause of Paz's death.