Nurse arrested in hepatitis C case

Keith Mathahs, one of the nurse anesthetists charged in the criminal case stemming from the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak, was arrested in Las Vegas Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Still at large late Tuesday was Ronald Lakeman, the other anesthetist charged in last week's 28-count indictment, which includes felony charges of racketeering, insurance fraud and neglect of patients.

Las Vegas police said a fugitive detail in Atlanta, where Lakeman lives, is still looking for him.

Dr. Dipak Desai, who ran the clinics where health officials say the hepatitis C infections occurred, posted $1 million bail Monday on the charges.

District Judge Donald Mosley, who is presiding over the case, moved Desai's arraignment to 9 a.m. Friday because of a scheduling conflict with his lawyer, Richard Wright. Mathahs, 74, is also set to be arraigned on Friday.

Today, Mosley plans a 9 a.m. hearing on a motion by Mathahs' lawyer, Jack Buchanan, to reduce his bail.

Last Friday, when the indictment was unsealed in court, District Judge Elissa Cadish set bail at $500,000 for both Mathahs and Lakeman.

The charges in the indictment revolve around the cases of seven people health officials say were infected with the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus at Desai's Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada: one on July 25, 2007; and six on Sept. 21, 200