Northern Nevada
(Staff Report) - Deputies were called to a Minden thrift store Dec. 26 after volunteers discovered a post-holiday donation of a BB gun and ammunition.
Officers recovered a Marksman Repeater black semiautomatic-style BB gun and a box of BBs.
The thrift shop manager said the weapon and ammunition were discovered in a donation box.
The items were booked into evidence and destroyed, according to the sheriff's office.
Nevada governor names top aide
(AP) - Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has promoted Dianne Cornwall, his deputy chief of staff, to a new position of chief operating officer.
Gibbons announced the promotion in a New Year's Eve memo to state workers, saying Cornwall would still report to his chief of staff, Mike Dayton.
The governor said Cornwall will oversee day-to-day operations of all agencies, adding the move would "streamline the chain of command" and improve communications throughout state government.
Cornwall had run Gibbons' congressional offices around the state and his Washington, D.C., office while he was in Congress. The Republican governor, starting the second year of a four-year term, was in the U.S. House for 10 years.
The governor didn't say how Cornwall's promotion would affect Dayton's duties as chief of staff. Dayton also is a longtime Gibbons aide. He managed Gibbons' 1996 campaign for Congress and served as his congressional chief of staff for nearly six years.
Sparks police seek intruder suspect
SPARKS (AP) - Sparks police are looking for a suspect who allegedly broke into a family's apartment while trying to hide from officers.
Brian Malone is described as Hispanic, 25 years old, 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds.
According to police, an officer conducting a business check at the Western Village on Tuesday night tried to approach Malone because he was seen in the casino with a large screw driver in his back pocket.
Malone fled on foot into a nearby apartment complex.
A search was conducted but the suspect wasn't found.
Officers later received a 911 call from family who reported a Hispanic man entered their apartment and wouldn't let them leave.
Authorities said Malone has not been located and should be considered armed and dangerous.
Las Vegas
Authorities catch mountain lion in Las Vegas neighborhood
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Police captured a more than 100-pound mountain lion in a Las Vegas neighborhood Wednesday, authorities said.
Police and animal control officials tracked the animal to a back yard after it eluded capture early in the day and then reappeared Wednesday afternoon.
The animal was tranquilized and captured without incident, Las Vegas police spokesman Bill Cassell said. It was handed over the Nevada Division of Wildlife and will be released in a less densely populated environment, he said.
No injuries were reported.
Authorities estimated the mountain lion weighed between 100 pounds and 110 pounds.
It was first seen in a gated community about 12 miles northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Residents were told to remain indoors, and children at a nearby middle school during winter break were locked down while officials searched the neighborhood after the initial 10 a.m. sighting.
Police gave up after three hours, and then got another call.
"It did what all good suspects do," Cassell said. "It waited for the cops to leave and then took a walk down the street."
Man charged in home purchase fraud
(AP) - A Las Vegas man faces 32 felony counts for allegedly setting up bogus deals to buy homes - often from people desperate to sell to avoid foreclosures.
Investigators from Secretary of State Ross Miller's office arrested Matthew Marlon on New Year's Eve at the Las Vegas-area home of two people who were cooperating with authorities.
Miller said Marlon, using an alias, attempted to convince homeowners he would assume their mortgages in exchange for deeds to the homes and, in some cases, a fee as low as $200.
"To the unsuspecting victims, it was an opportunity to avoid looming foreclosure and a ruined credit rating," Miller said.
Authorities said more than 60 such deals occurred - and Miller said that could be "just the tip of the iceberg."
The secretary of state said that once Marlon had possession of homes, he'd rent them to new tenants - but not make any mortgage payments. The "sellers" would find out later that no payments had been made on the loans, which were still in their names.