From the Las Vegas Optic Following a three-day trial, a jury found a former Las Vegas firefighter guilty of raping a girl he lived with. The jury deliberated for nearly six hours before finding David Garcia, 48, guilty of criminal sexual penetration of a child. Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced April 14. The rape…
From the Las Vegas Optic On the evening of April 11, 2003, officers with the Las Vegas Police Department responded to a home on Sixth Street near Baca Avenue after receiving a call about a possible dead body. Those officers ultimately entered the home with a search warrant, and soon began investigating one of the…
From the Las Vegas Optic A Mora woman intentionally rammed her vehicle into another vehicle — nearly hitting two men — fled the scene, then returned to ram the vehicle four more times, according to a criminal complaint filed in Mora Magistrate Court. Amity F. Maes, 29, was arrested March 15 and charged with two…
From the Las Vegas Optic A Pecos man has been charged with criminal sexual contact with a minor, nearly a year after police were first notified of the sexual assault involving his 5-year-old daughter. Lester Ortiz, 45, was arrested March 12 and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center on one count of second-degree…
From the Las Vegas Optic A 14-year-old Las Vegas boy has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the February killings of two men from Villanueva. Enrique Duran-Garcia was arrested March 8 in Albuquerque. During a March 10 detention hearing in District Court in Las Vegas, Duran-Garcia was ordered to be…
From the Las Vegas Optic In the six-month period between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, Las Vegas City Schools spent more than $38,000 in legal fees either responding to records requests, researching laws, redacting requests, pushing back against requests and complaints, or responding to the attorney general, according to invoices obtained by the…
From the Las Vegas Optic In January 2020, Las Vegas City Schools Superintendent Larryssa Archuleta addressed the Board of Education with concerns about the number of requests for public records citizens and journalists had filed with the district. During that school year, according to Archuleta, the district had received 10 such requests. Archuleta’s concern, she…
From the Las Vegas Optic A traffic stop resulted in a West Las Vegas Schools employee being arrested on charges of possessing methamphetamine and paraphernalia. Orlando L. Lefebre, 40, of Las Vegas, was arrested Feb. 26 following a traffic stop on Seventh Street in Las Vegas. Lefebre is the program specialist for WLV’s Consolidated Federal…
From the Las Vegas Optic The search for a new president continues for Luna Community College, and in the meantime, Dr. Kenneth Patterson will continue to serve as the college’s interim president. The Luna Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday afternoon to extend Patterson’s contract through June 30, or until “the presidential search is terminated.”…
From the Las Vegas Optic The man charged in the stabbing death of 71-year-old William “Skip” Smith Jr. in the summer of 2019 will remain in jail until the case goes to trial, according to Fourth Judicial District Attorney Tom Clayton. Seig Isaac Chavez, 41, was arraigned in District Court on Monday, clearing the way…
