2 men indicted in death of Hooters casino waitress

By Cara McCoy

Friday, April 9, 2010 | 1:24 p.m.

Two men accused in two different murders have been indicted by a Clark County grand jury in connection with the murder of a Hooters casino waitress.

Gregory Lee Hover, 48, and his alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Richard Freeman, were indicted on counts of murder, sexual assault, robbery, kidnapping and burglary, all enhanced with a deadly weapon, as well as arson, burglary and several counts of conspiracy.

They are set to be arraigned on the charges April 14 in front of District Court Judge Ken Cory, which stem from the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 21-year-old Prisma Contreras of Las Vegas.

Boulder City Police officers found her body Jan. 15 inside her blue 2006 Jeep Liberty, which had been burned. Contreras, a waitress and young mother, was reported missing by her family Jan. 14 after she failed to return home from her shift at the Mad Onion restaurant at Hooters.

The duo are also accused of felony counts in connection with a violent home invasion that left a man dead and the man’s wife with a gunshot to the face.

That case will continue through the preliminary hearing process, which began March 19 and was continued to later this month.

In that case, Hover, a process server, is accused of returning to the house of Roberta and Julio Romero on Jan. 25, which he had visited earlier in the day looking for a man Hover said owed $10,000 in a civil matter.

The husband and wife were both shot. Julio Romero died and Roberta Romero was shot in the face and left for dead, but survived.

Roberta Romero testified at the first portion of the preliminary hearing and identified Hover as the man who shot her and stole valuables from her home. Police say Freeman was waiting for Hover in Hover’s car.

Prosecutors have said factors in both cases could lead them to pursue the death penalty against the men.

Separately, Hover was also indicted in a case that developed after he was arrested in which he is accused of slicing another inmate across his back with a pair of scissors while cutting the man’s hair at the Clark County Detention Center.

He was indicted on one count of battery by a prisoner with a deadly weapon in that case.

Authorities have said Hover and Freeman are suspected in a number of other crimes, including a series of armed robberies, but no charges related to the alleged spate of robberies have been filed.

Hover and Freeman are being held in without bail.