Former police officer charged in death plot
The Clark County district attorney’s office drafted a three-count felony complaint Friday, charging former Las Vegas police officer William Ronald Webb Jr. in a scheme to cause the death of his girlfriend, attorney Nancy Quon.
Las Vegas police have alleged that Webb and Quon together plotted her own demise in light of an FBI investigation into allegations related to massive fraud within homeowners associations around the valley. Police describe her indictment in the federal case as “imminent.”
Webb, 42, who is in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, is charged in the criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit murder, trafficking in a controlled substance and conspiracy to violate the controlled substances act. He is set to make an initial court appearance Monday in Henderson Justice Court.
The murder charge alleges Webb conspired with an “unnamed co-conspirator” to obtain 51.4 grams of the club drug gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) to give to Quon, who planned to kill herself. The unnamed co-conspirator is a friend of Webb’s and an ex-felon now cooperating with police.
Webb was arrested late Tuesday at the parking garage of the Green Valley Ranch Resort, where the couple was living after an Oct. 28 fire damaged their home and nearly killed Quon in what police think was an initial suicide attempt.
Quon, 50, has not been charged. She told police she never planned suicide.
Her whereabouts were unknown Friday. Quon was taken by ambulance from Green Valley Ranch after Webb’s arrest. When police officers suspect someone is a danger to themselves or others, they have legal authority to have the person held for a psychiatric evaluation.
District Attorney David Roger declined comment Friday on Quon’s whereabouts; her lawyer, Tom Pitaro, declined comment.
“This is a very sad case,” Roger said. “A very esteemed lawyer has apparently expressed a desire to end her life instead of facing charges. People who are alleged to have committed crimes are entitled to due process. As prosecutors, we want them to exercise those rights and face the potential charges in court.”
Roger said police are still investigating the possibility that Quon and Webb conspired to commit insurance fraud in the suspected suicide scheme.
The ex-felon told police the couple talked openly about their plan, and wanted to arrange Quon’s death so that Webb could collect life insurance money for her children.
Quon once had a high profile in Las Vegas, where she was a leader in the field of construction defect litigation and co-host of two popular local cable TV legal advice programs. She also authored a regular legal advice column for the Review-Journal’s real estate section.
Her reputation soured, along with her law practice, after a Sept. 26, 2008, search of her office by FBI agents and Las Vegas police. Agents targeted an alleged scheme to rig condo homeowner association board elections to place conspirators — including some Las Vegas police officers — who would push for lawsuits over construction defects that would benefit some attorneys and funnel repair work to selected companies.
In their report on the Webb arrest, police said Quon appeared “detached” and “despondent” in an Oct. 26 meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s office related to the investigation.
The ex-felon, according to the report, suggested Quon could kill herself by drinking “a six pack” and an energy drink with a high alcohol content. On Oct. 28, Webb’s brother, Daniel Webb, went to Quon’s home at 73 Dollar Pointe Ave. to check on her at his brother’s request. He found her unconscious in the burning home and rescued her, the report stated.
At the hospital, Quon told a county fire investigator she drank the energy drink Webb had put in the refrigerator. She said she didn’t feel well after drinking it, took a bath with several lit candles near the tub, then took two sleeping pills and fell asleep on a couch.
Webb allegedly stepped up his push to obtain the GHB after the fire. He told the ex-felon that he feared the insurance company wouldn’t pay unless the death appeared natural, and he thought an overdose of the drug would not be detected after death, police said.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135 or read more courts coverage at lvlegalnews.com.
