Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

News briefs for Sept. 27, 2005

Man sentenced in reptile sales

A 36-year-old San Diego man arrested as part of a lengthy federal investigation of illegal sales of reptiles was sentenced Monday in Las Vegas to 15 months in federal prison, representatives for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Hiroshi Motohashi was sentenced for unlawfully selling endangered and protected species that were transported from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

Motohashi, who authorities said was in the reptile business, plead guilty last year to three felony counts of violating the Lacey Act by trying to sell and transport Gila monsters, San Esteban Island chuckwallas, which are indigenous to Mexico, and yellow-spotted sideneck turtles, which are indigenous to Brazil, to an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent in 1997.

Motohashi was also ordered to pay a $3,000 criminal fine and perform community service, according to the Justice Department.

Motohashi's arrest was part of a nationwide crackdown by the Justice Department and Fish and Wildlife, which operated an undercover business in Reno, authorities said

Woman stabbed outside of store

An unidentified man stabbed a woman in the head and arm this morning outside a 7-Eleven convenience store at Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway, Metro Police said.

The woman, who was taken to Sunrise Hospital, was in stable condition, said Metro spokesman Jose Montoya. Her identity was not available this morning.

Montoya said the woman was stabbed by an man in his 20s around 1:45 a.m. He said the stabbing could be related to narcotics.

No details of the stabbing or the events that led up to the incident were available this morning, he said.

A clerk at 7-Eleven said the woman was stabbed in front of the store.

Man critically injured in wreck

A man was airlifted to UMC on Monday and was in critical condition after he lost control of the Toyota Tacoma pickup he was driving on Interstate 215 near the Interstate 15 interchange, the Nevada Highway Patrol stated.

The driver, who was not identified and the only person in the truck, went off the road, rolled several times and then hit a light pole at around 5 p.m., Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea said this morning.

It was unclear why the driver lost control, he said.

The driver was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, he said.

Authorities shut down I-15 for about 30 minutes while the driver was airlifted from the scene, Honea said.

Man arrested in shooting death

Metro Police on Monday morning arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of shooting to death a man in the 6900 block of Appleton Drive, near Lake Mead and Hollywood boulevards, last week, Metro stated.

Metro arrested Jose DeJesus Sandoval of Las Vegas and booked him into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder with a deadly weapon and possession of a short-barreled shotgun.

Sandoval is charged in the killing of Gordon Allen Johnston, 30, who was found on Wednesday at around 12:30 a.m. shot to death in the parking lot of an apartment building at 6983 Appleton Drive. Johnston lived nearby, Metro said.

An initial investigation suggested that Johnston was shot after he was in an argument with other unidentified individuals in the area, Metro stated.

Woman killed in car crash

An 18-year-old Las Vegas woman was killed Sunday when she ran a red light on Tropicana Avenue and her 1986 Volvo station wagon collided with a 2005 Toyota 4Runner that was going north on the Las Vegas Beltway, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

NPH spokesman Trooper Kevin Honea said the woman, identified by the Clark County Coroner's office as Jodie R. Young, was the only one in the Volvo.

After the front of the Toyota struck the Volvo at 12:06 a.m., Young's car rotated and slid across the intersection, striking a traffic signal before rolling over on its left side, Honea said.

Young, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, Honea said.

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