Victim’s family upset after ICE picks up defendant in Las Vegas crash before sentencing

Ricardo Ureño’s wife showed up to court in Las Vegas on Monday morning, prepared to speak at the sentencing of the driver who caused her husband’s death.

Her family carried pictures of the man who had been their patriarch. She wanted the defendant to see her husband’s face, she said.

But immigration authorities picked up Duglas Esteban Chacon before he could be released from the Clark County Detention Center, so his sentencing could not go forward, defense attorney Ofelia Markarian said after court.

“I’d rather have him prosecuted and then picked up,” said Pauline Ureño, who was married to Ricardo Ureño for 53 years before the 77-year-old was killed in February.

Esteban Chacon signed a guilty plea agreement in April for a count of reckless driving, court records show. The Metropolitan Police Department said the crash occurred the night of Feb. 19, when Esteban Chacon was racing another car and hit a pedestrian crossing Nellis Boulevard “in an unmarked/implied crosswalk.”

The status of Esteban Chacon’s immigration case is unclear.

A Las Vegas justice of the peace previously observed that he did not appear to be an American citizen, according to court records. Markarian said she did not know where her client was born or what his immigration status was. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to an email requesting information.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill signed an agreement with ICE in May, allowing the federal agency to place holds on inmates for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release on local charges.

There is a possibility Esteban Chacon will land back in Clark County court eventually.

District Judge Jennifer Schwartz issued a no bail bench warrant for him. His attorney said she expects that once his immigration case is resolved, he will return to criminal court.

Prosecutors had agreed to release Esteban Chacon on his own recognizance at the time of his plea, court records show, and said they would not object to probation.

Esteban Chacon was racing with another vehicle when he struck and killed the victim, then lied to police about it, prosecutor Christopher Laurent said at an initial appearance hearing in February, according to a court transcript.

But Josie Bayudan, the public defender who represented him at his initial appearance, said it was “pure speculation” Esteban Chacon was drag racing, the transcript shows. She also said Esteban Chacon worked and had a wife and family.

Markarian said she was unaware of any claim her client was racing. Esteban Chacon was not impaired and stayed at the scene of the crash, she said.

“He obviously is extremely sorry about the entire situation,” the defense attorney said.

Pauline Ureño said she and her husband met at Rancho High School and had been married since she was 18, she said. He worked as a dealer at the Landmark and other casinos and collected vintage cars.

The loss of her husband has been devastating. “It was like cutting off my right arm,” she said.

“My grandfather was everything to me,” said Daniel Ureño, the victim’s grandson. “He was my father because we didn’t really have a father. My grandpa was always there for us.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.