Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.
The Nye County sheriff, armed with information from a federal violent crime task force, had arrested an alleged member of the 311 Boyz gang in Pahrump last month just days before the young man was arrested again in Las Vegas on separate charges.
Nye County Sheriff Anthony DeMeo said the arrest in Pahrump was a good example of why he needs the extra help he has been getting from the federal task force. Urban criminals are muscling into rural areas such as Pahrump, about 45 miles west of Las Vegas, DeMeo and federal authorities said.
In the case of the alleged gang member, 21-year-old Dominic Harriman of Las Vegas was arrested on Feb. 23 in Pahrump and charged with possessing stolen property and drugs, DeMeo said. Harriman, who also allegedly had a handgun with him when he was arrested, is scheduled to appear in Pahrump Justice Court on April 25 to face the charges.
In August 2004, Harriman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit coercion in connection with the July 2003 attack by the 311 Boyz that left then-18-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen disfigured.
In August 2004, when District Judge Michael Cherry fined Harriman $2,000, he did not place Harriman on probation. But Cherry did order Harriman to stay out of trouble for a year.
Cherry has scheduled a hearing for Friday morning, and he is expected to hold Harriman in contempt of court for violating his order to stay out of trouble in connection with his Las Vegas arrest.
Police had pulled Harriman over about 1 a.m. Saturday in the area of Charleston Boulevard and Buffalo Drive for a traffic violation. When they ran a check on him, they found he had four traffic warrants, according to the police report. Then the officers allegedly found methamphetamine in Harriman's possession.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent, who prosecuted Harriman and several other alleged members of the 311 Boyz gang for the attack on Hansen, said he expects Cherry will hold Harriman in contempt of court and will sentence him to 25 days in jail for violating his order.
Pete Christiansen, the lawyer who defended Harriman before Cherry last year, agreed that a contempt of court order and 25 days in jail was likely for Harriman.
Christiansen said he has not been contacted by Harriman since either of his February arrest, and Christiansen said he will be out of town Friday so he won't be representing Harriman in court that day.
Harriman is scheduled to appear in Justice Court on March 14 on four traffic warrants, but hearing for the Las Vegas drug charge has not yet been scheduled.
DeMeo said the last thing Pahrump needs is people like Harriman causing problems there. But the town, which had an 8 percent growth rate last year, is becoming a haven for gang activity, drug dealers and other criminals on the run, DeMeo said.
To try to help DeMeo's department and other local authorities, federal law enforcers meet with representatives of those local departments once a week to share information, they said.
The Las Vegas Valley is one of 20 metropolitan areas that has a Violent Crime Impact Team task force led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The federal violent crime initiative, including officers from local police departments combined with federal agents, will continue to operate in Las Vegas after catching dozens of hardened criminals in its first year of operation, Deputy Attorney General James Comey of Washington, D.C., said Wednesday.
Harriman is but one example of the people the violent crimes task force has helped to capture, authorities said.
Since June 2004 when the task force went into action, 58 violent criminals have been arrested in Las Vegas and 150 guns seized, Comey said.
The task force grew out of a meeting that included former Attorney General John Ashcroft and Comey and looked at cities that bucked the national trend of lower violent crime rates, the deputy attorney general said.
The Las Vegas area was determined to be one of the areas that appeared to need one of the task forces.
Teams of agents from ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration are assigned to each of the cities for six months. A Justice Department prosecutor handles cases of those charged.
Investigators focus on prosecuting people for firearms violations, which often accompany gang activity, illegal drug organizations and organized crime groups. The teams use high-tech surveillance and other techniques to identify the worst offenders.
The task forces cooperate with local and federal agencies already working with another Justice Department Program, Project Safe Neighborhoods, U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden said. The program targets guns and violent crime.
Comey said the partnership between federal, state and local law enforcment agencies would continue "as long as Congress has the dough to do it."
The initial task force initiative was slated to last for six months. On Monday five more cities were added to the original 15 getting special federal teams in partnership with local law enforcement. They are Fresno, Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Hartford, Conn.; Houston and New Orleans.
Violent crime in Las Vegas dropped 10 percent from January to December of 2004, authorities said.
Curtis Truscott, director of the ATF, said that the team effort has removed "the worst of the worst" criminals from Southern Nevada streets.
The task force has captured Rolling 60s Crips street gang members. Leland Devine Banks, also known as Lee-Macc, was sentenced Jan. 7 to 37 1/2 years in prison for the attempted murder of a rival gang member. On Dec. 27, 2004, alleged gang member Antonio Givens was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for conspiracy and use of a firearm during a violent crime.
The number of federal gun crime indictments charged in the region increased from 39 in 2001 to 147 in 2002 and 162 in 2003. Between July 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004, 66 defendants were convicted and sentenced in federal court in Las Vegas for gun crime offenses, according to court statistics.
Besides Las Vegas other cities that got violent crime teams include Albuquerque, N.M.; Baltimore; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.; Miami; Richmond, Va.; Greensboro, N.C.; Tulsa, Okla.; Pittsburgh; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; Tucson, Ariz.; and the Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia region.
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