Process server arrested

A legal process server who has been charged with murder robbed and shot a Las Vegas couple at their residence, where he tried to serve papers four hours earlier, according to an arrest report.

Police say Gregory Hover, 38, shot Julio Romero and his wife, Roberta, in their Las Vegas home Jan. 25.

Julio Romero, 64, was pronounced dead at the scene. Roberta Romero, whose age was not available, was shot in the face but survived the attack.

According to the arrest report, Hover was working for Junes Legal Service, a local legal support service, when he arrived at the Romero home, located on Sage Pines Drive, near Russell Road and Jones Boulevard, about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 24.

A process server is someone who delivers a legal notice such as a subpoena or a summons. The server must not be a party involved in the case.

Deborah Schuff, owner of Junes Legal Service, said Hover had no criminal history and received his Nevada Process Servers License through the state.

The background checks are handled through the FBI, she said. According to state law, a server must have no prior felonies, or misdemeanors that involve "moral turpitude," a broad term to define character.

"If there are issues on his background, you have to check with the state of Nevada, they gave him his license," Schuff said. "We had nothing to do with it."

However, Hover was charged in 2006 with three felony counts of passing bad checks with intent to defraud. According to his warrant, he passed off thousands of dollars in bad checks over six months in 2005, including more than $5,700 in checks at O'Aces Bar and Grill and more than $1,000 at Boulder Station.

According to court records, Hover never entered a plea in the case but agreed to pay restitution. It is not clear whether he was ever arrested in connection with the crime.

According to the arrest report, Hover told Julio Romero he needed to serve papers to Santiago Pozzi, a friend whom the couple said they had not seen in several years.

Julio Romero signed a document stating he had not seen Pozzi, and Hover left the home, the report said.

Roberta Romero told police she awoke to a sound at about 12:30 a.m. the next day. When she investigated, she discovered a man she recognized and later identified in a police lineup as Hover. He was in the kitchen with a handgun, the report said.

Hover made her give him her wallet, which contained credit and bank cards, then forced her into an upstairs closet as he stole items from her bedroom, according to the report.

She told police she heard Hover's cell phone ring, upon which he immediately opened the door and shot her. She waited about 15 minutes before she called 911 from a bathroom telephone, the report states.

Police later used surveillance footage from a convenience store to identify a man, Richard Benjamin Freeman Jr., using the Romeros' bank card at an ATM.

Police identified Hover as a suspect through Roberta Romero's description of him as a process server, the report said, and detectives located and questioned both Hover and Freeman on Friday.

During an interview, Freeman told police he was in Hover's car the night of the slaying, but did not enter the home.

He told police Hover said he had bound Julio Romero with tape before shooting him in the head, and then threw Roberta Romero in the closet before shooting her.

Freeman said Hover gave him jewelry and bank cards from the robbery with the instruction to pawn the jewelry and withdraw money from an ATM, which he tried to do, according to the report.

Hover denied being present in the Romero home during the shootings, although he said he had tried to serve Pozzi at the home earlier that evening, the report states.

Police also interviewed a witness who said Hover traded the weapon used in the slaying, a .380-caliber pistol, for rock cocaine after the shooting, according to the report.

Hover was arrested on Saturday. He is being held at Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said there are no current plans to arrest Freeman, but the investigation is still ongoing.

Review-Journal writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.