Fugitives’ profiles in Vegas may be high, but not their numbers

David Kihara

Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

All bad guys come to Las Vegas, or so the story goes.

The "Ohio Sniper," Charles McCoy, who led a shooting spree along Ohio highways in 2004, was arrested by police at a Budget Suites motel near the Stardust. The white supremacist accused of shooting a Philippines-born postal worker and opening fire at a Jewish community center, Buford Furrow, turned himself in to the FBI here.

Even back in 1959, police arrested Perry Smith and Richard Hickock - the killers of the Clutter family in Kansas - in Las Vegas. Both killers were the focus of the Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."

Other nationally-known cases have had Las Vegas connections, including the killer of fashion designer Giani Versace, Andrew Cunanan, who killed himself on a houseboat in Miami Beach. The boat was reportedly once owned by a man who operated a health spa in Las Vegas.

Last year's runaway bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, who fled Georgia and her fiance just before her wedding, spent a night in Las Vegas before she popped up in New Mexico.

Dave Staretz, supervisory special agent with the FBI in Las Vegas, said that cases like the five 9/11 hijackers who came to Las Vegas before the attacks in New York and Washington gives the impression that many fugitives are found here. It's become part of Las Vegas lore.

If only it were true. The U.S. Marshals Service says it's not.

The idea that "more fugitives flee to Las Vegas than anywhere else is just not true," said Mavis Dezulovich, spokeswoman for the Marshals Service in Washington. "There's not a high number of people fleeing there."

Generally, fugitives tend to travel short distances or to neighboring states, and often don't have the means to get as far as Nevada, Dezulovich said.

"Fugitives rarely have the money to get to Las Vegas," she said.

In 2005 the Marshals Service and the Metro Police Criminal Apprehension Team caught 233 out-of-state fugitives in Southern Nevada, nine fewer than in 2004.

By comparison, about 500 out-of-state fugitives were arrested in San Diego in 2005, said Mark Owen, acting chief deputy marshal in Las Vegas.

Aside from the lore, however, one thing does appear true about criminals who come to Las Vegas. They like the good life, and they can often pay for it, which means they are more likely to have a higher public profile.

"Fugitives come here for the same reason that attracts everyone, from the good guys to the bad guys," said Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy marshal in Las Vegas.

"They want to come here and are into gambling and they use the proceeds of criminal enterprises to celebrate," he said. "They can come and enjoy the nightlife. It's the image of Las Vegas."

David Kihara can be reached at 259-2330 or at davidk@lasvegassun.com.