Week in Review: Top News
The central figure in the largest public health crisis in Nevada history has been found incompetent to stand trial.
District Judge Jackie Glass on Tuesday ordered Dr. Dipak Desai to surrender March 17 to be taken to a state mental facility for further evaluation.
His March 14 trial was postponed indefinitely.
The gastroenterologist faces several felony charges in connection with a hepatitis C outbreak at his clinic in 2007.
Health officials notified 40,000 former patients about possible exposure to blood-borne diseases because of unsafe injection practices.
As many as 250 former clinic patients infected with hepatitis have filed medical malpractice lawsuits. Thousands more have sued over the stress of having to be tested for hepatitis C.
Glass ordered the evaluation of Desai after two court-appointed medical experts determined that two strokes in recent years had left him incompetent to stand trial.
Monday
Bandit in court
With a media throng looking on, the man accused of robbing the Bellagio of $1.5 million in casino chips appeared in Las Vegas Justice Court.
Anthony Michael Carleo, the son of Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge George Assad, wore navy blue prison scrubs and shackles as his attorney, William Terry, asked for a speedy preliminary hearing.
The hearing will be Feb. 23.
Tuesday
Married to a criminal
No charges are expected against a federal prosecutor in Nevada whose husband admitted stealing more than $3.7 million from the bank he worked at in Ely.
Former Ely City Councilman Stephen Marich awaits federal sentencing for embezzlement. His now-ex-wife, Sudabeh Fahami, is deputy chief in charge of the U.S. attorney’s Reno office.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento, Calif., said the FBI determined that no one other than Marich was involved in the thefts, which took place over about nine years.
Wednesday
Pahrump fire kills four
A woman and three boys, ages 1, 5 and 6, were killed in a house fire in Pahrump.
Frantic neighbors tried to rescue the four people trapped inside as the boys’ mother, Sharon Broadhead, ran around in front of the burning structure screaming for help.
Authorities identified the boys as Branden Smith, 6, Zachary Broadhead, 4, and Elliot Broadhead, 1. The woman who died was Crystal Smiley, 24, a family friend and baby sitter for the boys.
Thursday
Suspected serial killer
A man wanted in a slaying in Denver and suspected by the FBI of being a serial killer was arrested in Las Vegas.
Chester Leroy Todd, 66, who has lived in the Las Vegas area for 14 years, checked into University Medical Center on Jan. 7, gravely ill and suffering from severe Parkinson’s disease, authorities said.
According to a Las Vegas police report, the former truck driver was arrested after he told someone at UMC there was a warrant out for him in Colorado.
Friday
Stadium deal advances
The Board of Regents approved an agreement between UNLV and a private developer with plans to build a 40,000-seat stadium, retail space and housing on campus.
The agreement gives Majestic Realty the exclusive right to work with the university to negotiate details of the proposal.
The stadium and surrounding development would sit on 150 acres in the southwest corner of the campus .
The plans call for no UNLV money to be used.