IN BRIEF

Decomposing body found in car trunk

Las Vegas police confirmed on Friday that the decomposing body of a man was found in the trunk of a stolen Acura in the northwest valley Thursday.

The man’s identity was not known, said Sgt. William Scott of the homicide unit. The man had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

The Acura was found in a stolen trailer that was discovered by its owner at the Oak Tree Apartments, on Alexander Road near Tenaya Way. The owner of the trailer, which was stolen early Thursday, was traveling on U.S. Highway 95, saw it at the apartment complex and called police.

The Acura was stolen Wednesday from the southwest valley.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide unit at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGE

Grand jury indicts former law enforcer

A former lieutenant with the North Las Vegas Detention Center and chief marshal of the North Las Vegas Municipal Court was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he laundered about $40,000 in cash and made false statements to the FBI, authorities said.

Ricardo Bonvicin, 40, of Las Vegas, was charged Wednesday with six counts of laundering of monetary instruments and one count of false statements.

Bonvicin appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leavitt on Friday and pleaded not guilty. He was released on a personal recognizance bond.

The indictment alleges that, for a fee, Bonvicin laundered money given to him by an FBI informant. The indictment alleges that Bonvicin knew the money given to him to launder was obtained illegally.

If convicted, Bonvicin faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on each money laundering count and up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the false statement charge.

TONOPAH NEAR BONANZA

Man badly injured in apartment blaze

A man was rushed Friday to University Medical Center with critical facial and inhalation burns after a fire tore through his apartment on Tonopah Drive, near Bonanza Road, authorities said.

City of Las Vegas firefighters were called just after 11 a.m. to the 700 block of Tonopah and found heavy smoke coming from a unit in a one-story, wood frame, stucco triplex, said Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanksi.

Firefighters found the man outside the apartment, Szymanksi said. He told them he was not home when the blaze started. The man told firefighters that when he came home he saw smoke coming from the apartment. The man went inside the apartment for an unknown reason, Szymanksi said.

The apartment was destroyed and damage was estimated at $30,000, Szymanksi said. The cause of the fire was unknown Friday, but investigators believed it started in a bedroom.

$600,000 IN DAMAGE

Person interviewed after Henderson fire

Fire investigators were interviewing a “person of interest” in connection with an early morning fire on Friday that caused approximately $600,000 in damage to a home, a car and nearby trash bins, authorities at the Henderson Fire Department said.

No one was reported to be injured in the 4:13 a.m. blaze on a largely vacant block in an industrial area at the corner of Fletcher Road and Ivanpah Drive, near Eastern Avenue and Serene Avenue. An exact address was unavailable, according to the department.

No one was home at the time of the fire. It appears people were living in the home, but it was unclear whether they were squatters. There was no electricity to the home, said Battalion Chief Robert Maroney.

The fire gutted the house, a car parked outside and four trash bins at a nearby strip mall, authorities said.