in brief

FEDERAL INDICTMENT

Reno man arrested in online teen sex case

A 31-year-old Reno man is accused of coercing a 16-year-old girl from England to fly to the United States for sex.

Ian Michael Smith was arrested last week on charges stemming from a federal indictment issued in August. Authorities said Smith communicated with the girl online between October 2007 and May 2008.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court said the girl planned to live with Smith, then move with him to Costa Rica.

The girl was 15 when she began talking to Smith, officials said, and both knew each other's age.

The girl tried to fly from an airport in England to Reno in April but was stopped by police because her mother reported her missing, according to the complaint.

Smith is being held without bail at the Washoe County Jail.

DEADLY MIZPAH BLAZE

Survivors of 2006 fire at Reno hotel file suit

Survivors of a 2006 fire at the Mizpah Hotel in Reno are suing the hotel in Washoe County District Court, saying it is responsible for the circumstances that led to the blaze that killed 12 people and injured 31.

The suit names Mizpah Hotel LLC and those who worked security, placed or allowed mattresses to stay in corridors and installed, maintained and inspected the hotel's fire safety system.

Attorneys Cal Dunlap and Monique Laxalt declined to comment to the Reno Gazette-Journal because the lawsuit was pending.

The woman who set the fire, hotel resident Valerie Moor, was sentenced to 12 consecutive life prison terms, one for each person killed.

SIMI VALLEY SHOOTING

Man, 65, held in death of daughter's boyfriend

A 65-year-old man has been arrested in the slaying of his daughter's boyfriend.

Harry Scribner of Simi Valley, Calif., is accused of fatally shooting Bryan Wall, 31.

Police said Scribner was awakened about 1 a.m. Sunday by a loud knocking on the door of his house. They said he grabbed a pistol because he wasn't expecting anyone.

He found his daughter and Wall in the front yard. The men had a dispute, police said, and Scribner shot Wall, who died at the scene.