Nevada briefs

Nevada

Child allegedly left in car in Mustang Ranch parking lot

(Staff report) - While Lucien Hoffman frolicked inside the Mustang Ranch, his two-year-old girl was allegedly left alone in the blistering heat of the brothel's parking lot for two hours Sunday.

At 5:44 p.m., the Storey County Sheriff's Office investigated a report of a child left unattended in a vehicle parked outside the storied brothel.

The toddler was reportedly crying when Mustang Ranch security guards noticed she was alone.

Security guards were unable to locate a parent or guardian nearby and reported the incident to the sheriff.

Mustang Ranch employees took the child from the vehicle and kept her inside the brothel until sheriff's deputies arrived, according to the arrest report.

Once sheriff's deputies arrived, the toddler's father was located inside the brothel. A preliminary investigation concluded the toddler was left in the vehicle unattended in 95-degree heat.

The child was treated by Storey County Fire Department paramedics for dehydration and released to Nevada Division of Child and Family services.

Hoffman, unmarried from Bend, Ore., has joint custody of the child. The child's mother, also of Bend, was notified.

He was arrested for child neglect. Bail was set at $40,000.

Man killed by semi at Wells truck stop

WELLS (AP) - A Georgia man returning home from the national American Legion convention in Reno was killed when he was hit by a tractor-trailer rig at the Flying J truck stop in Wells.

Elko County Undersheriff Rocky Gonzalez said Leland Shadbum, 58, of Gainesville, Ga., was pronounced dead at the scene after the rig driven by Anthony Noble, 58, of Edmonton, Canada, struck him as he walked through a fuel bay.

Gonzalez said Saturday's accident remains under investigation.

California

Infant dies after meth pipe swab used to clean baby's nose

ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - An 8-month-old boy has died after his mother told police she accidentally wiped his nose with a cotton swab used earlier to clean a methamphetamine pipe, authorities said.

Prosecutors were reviewing evidence against the infant's mother, Elizabeth Reta of Ontario, and her boyfriend, Juan Antonio Sanchez Jr., and would likely seek murder charges, police Cpl. Jeff Higbee said Monday.

The boy, Samuel Reta, was declared dead Friday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner's office.

The child had been in a coma since police responding to a child-not-breathing emergency call early Thursday found him in full cardiac arrest. The baby also has a fractured skull, broken arm and pneumonia, police said.

Elizabeth Reta, 27, was arrested Thursday and booked for investigation of felony child abuse. Sanchez, who surrendered to police later that night, was also arrested on suspicion of abusing the child, officials said.

Reta has told police she gave the baby a bath, and then used the cotton swab to clean his nose because it was itching, police said. She said she didn't know the swab had been used to clean a methamphetamine pipe.

It wasn't clear when the baby suffered the broken bones. Police said some of the injuries may be the result of Sanchez's attempt to rouse the baby from his seizure.

Boy killed in Bodega Bay sand cave collapse is identified

BODEGA BAY, Calif. (AP) - Authorities have identified a 10-year-old boy who was killed Sunday when the sand cave he was digging collapsed onto him near Bodega Bay.

Jonathon Waldrup, of Tucson, Ariz., was vacationing in the area with his family for the weekend.

He and his cousin were enlarging an existing tunnel that had been dug into the side of a massive sand dune at Salmon Creek Beach, about 69 miles north of San Francisco, when the cave suddenly collapsed.

Jonathon's cousin was partially buried, but was able to dig himself out and run for help.

It took rescuers an hour to pull the boy out of six to eight feet of sand. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities say the boy's parents saw the collapse occur.

Officials blamed the accident on a cypress tree that fell over because of the digging, which collapsed the cave.