Local news briefs for June 27, 2000

Power outage hits 5,000 residents

A power outage left about 5,000 customers near East Charleston Boulevard hot under the collar for a few hours Monday evening. A transformer apparently failed in the area served by the substation at 4200 E. Charleston Blvd., said Nevada Power spokesman Thomas Moore.

The outage occurred about 6:40 p.m. and by 9:15 p.m. power had been restored to half of the 5,000 customers, Moore said. In another half hour, nearly all customers had power.

Man wins $4.2 million jackpot

A 67-year-old Washington state man hit a $4.2 million jackpot Monday on a quarter Wheel of Fortune game at the Sahara hotel-casino.

Laszlo Zsitvay of Mercer Island said he had invested about $80 in the machine before it hit.

"I knew I won the progressive and the lady at the next machine said the jackpot was worth four million, but I thought she meant four million quarters," Zsitvay said.

The building contractor and his wife, Joann, are in Las Vegas to attend her family reunion. Zsitvay, a Hungarian refugee who came to the United States in 1959, said he will use the money to accelerate the couple's retirement plans.

Inmate loses parole try

A 38-year-old man convicted of sexual assault and robbery in Churchill County in 1984 has been denied parole for at least one more year.

Gale Fox was featured in a Las Vegas Sun article June 18 about changes in the parole board system.

Fox was convicted of beating, raping and sodomizing a 53-year-old disabled woman repeatedly over an eight-year period in February 1984.

Fox was paroled from his 15-year robbery sentence so he could begin his five-to-life sentence on the sexual assault in 1990.

The parole board met to consider his parole June 12.

The board notified Fox last week that he was denied parole and will not be eligible again for another year, said Donald Denison, Board of Parole Commissioners chairman.

Software glitch disrupts phones

About 2,000 customers lost phone service Saturday because of a glitch in Sprint's new computer software.

Customers were dropped randomly from all parts of town, Sprint spokeswoman Detra Page said. Computer programmers are working on the problem.

They believe nearly all customers have been restored as they call in to complain, but if whose who believe their phone service was dropped unfairly they can call Sprint at 244-7400.

Refugee fined in auto fraud

District Judge John McGroarty fined Eddie R. Santana $1,000 Monday and ordered him to complete 16 hours of community service on his guilty plea to auto insurance fraud in Las Vegas.

Santana, a refugee from Cuba, must also complete an English as a second language course.

Santana bought an auto policy from Farmers/Mid-Century Insurance Co. in December 1997. He said he did not have any prior accidents. A month later he was involved in an accident with Israel A. Gonzales.

Gonzales demanded $5,000 to settle his claim. Both men denied knowing each other before the accident.

An investigation by Farmers, the National Insurance Crime Bureau and the state Attorney General's Insurance Fraud unit found Gonzales and Santana knew each other before the accident. And Santana had failed to disclose that he had previous accidents when he purchased his insurance policy.

Gonzales also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $2,012 in restitution to Farmers Insurance. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 6.

Deputy Attorney General Gregory Hojnowski said Gonzales is in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Services and faces a potential deportation.

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