Police try to tie other bombs to two held in Luxor attack
Two men accused in the deadly bomb attack in the Luxor garage may be responsible for at least one other area bombing, a prosecutor told a judge Tuesday.
“There may be other charges on another event,” Deputy Clark County District Attorney David Stanton told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo.
Abbatangelo assigned a public defender to represent Omar Rueda-Denvers, 31, and said he wants Rueda-Denvers returned to court Friday morning with Porfirio Duarte Herrera, a 27-year-old Nicaraguan who is in federal custody on a charge of being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm.
Police allege the men planted a bomb outside the Luxor hotel-casino that killed Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, a Mexican immigrant, on May 7.
Rueda-Denvers, a Panamanian, was not asked to enter a plea during his initial appearance on charges of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon and possession of an explosive device.
Rueda-Denvers, who could face life in prison if convicted, said through an interpreter that he understood the charges against him.
Duarte Herrera was booked Tuesday into the Clark County jail on charges of murder, attempted murder, possession of an explosive device and weapon possession, Las Vegas police Officer Jose Montoya said.
Montoya and department spokeswoman Carla Alston said they had no information about another bombing case.
Local and federal authorities said last week they were looking for links between the Luxor bombing and recent unsolved bombings in the Las Vegas area, including an explosion of a pipe bomb beneath a pickup parked outside a Home Depot store last Oct. 31.
No one was injured in that explosion, but the case remains under investigation, Las Vegas Fire Department and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials said Tuesday.
Dorantes Antonio, 24, worked at a Nathan’s Famous hot dog restaurant inside the Luxor resort and at a sandwich shop at the nearby Excalibur hotel-casino.
Police announced the arrests of Rueda-Denvers and Duarte Herrera on Friday and accused them of building and leaving the bomb hidden inside a cup atop Dorantes Antonio’s car at the Luxor’s parking garage. The device exploded when Dorantes Antonio picked up the cup after he got off work about 4 a.m. May 7. He died a short time later of head injuries.
The motion-activated metal pipe bomb contained an explosive powder and a 9-volt battery, and was hidden in a plastic foam cup that was partially filled with a spray foam insulation, police said.
Police found spray insulation foam and items with residue that might be consistent with the bomb when they searched Duarte Herrera’s residence.
Police say in an arrest report that Dorantes Antonio was dating Caren Chali, 27, a co-worker from Guatemala who police say was Rueda-Denvers’ ex-girlfriend and the mother of Rueda-Denvers’ child.
Chali told police that Rueda-Denvers had been harassing her and had visited her work place several times. Police said Dorantes Antonio told another co-worker that his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend had threatened him.
Police said in their arrest report that Rueda-Denvers used various names, including Alexander Perez and Omar Perez-Morales. He pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of having a false identification and was sentenced to 10 days in jail.
