Crime Corner, Jan. 22

Local woman formally charged in check fraud case

A Pahrump woman was formally charged by the Nye County District Attorney's Office for three felony counts that occurred in August.

On Aug. 31 Nye County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Home Depot referencing a fraud call.

Upon arrival at the business, deputies were informed that a woman, later identified as Destiny Hartman, was attempting to pay for merchandise with a fake check in the amount of $754.

During the transaction, the store manager noticed that the check was blurry and that the check machine declared it as fraudulent, according to police.

Once the clerk handed the check back to Hartman she fled the store in a hurry, police said.

The responding deputy attempted to locate Hartman in the vicinity of the store after his arrival, but was unable to find her.

Later that day the sheriff's department was dispatched to the Family Dollar Store referencing a fraudulent check. During the deputy's investigation, the clerk at the Family Dollar Store indicated that the suspect was next door at a car wash.

The responding deputy located Hartman at the car wash and took her into custody. The reporting person from Home Depot came to the car wash and positively identified Hartman as the suspect in the early check fraud incident there.

Hartman was charged with two counts of burglary and one count of attempting to obtain money under false pretenses.

Two Pahrump residents formally charged with stealing laptop from parolee

A pair of local residents were formally charged in a stolen property case involving a laptop stolen from a parolee from September.

Tia Dircio and Armand Smith were formally charged with an offense involving stolen property worth at least $650 but no more than $3,500, a category C felony.

On Sept. 23 a parolee reported his laptop, which was monitored by the State of Nevada as part of the parolee's supervision requirements, stolen to the Nevada Department of Parole and Probation.

The laptop was tracked down to an address on the 4600 block of Charleston Park Avenue. Nevada P and P reported that the computer's camera captured a male and a female using the laptop, in addition to the female logging into Facebook under the name of Tia Green.

The responding deputy made contact with Dircio and she didn't deny having the laptop and returned it to officers, police said.

Dircio was placed under arrest and was uncooperative in answering questions regarding the laptop.

Smith was seen exiting the same bedroom as Dircio was in, where the laptop was discovered and when he was advised that he was under arrest he attempted to retreat into the house and closed the door. He was found in the kitchen of the residence and taken into custody.

Man arrested for aiming shotgun at landlord

A Pahrump man was arrested earlier this month after he reportedly pointed a weapon at his landlord.

Albert Reichenbach was taken into custody Jan. 13 and charged with a preliminary count of aiming a firearm at a human being, according to the Nye County Sheriff's Office.

Reichenbach reportedly aimed a black shotgun at his landlord when he visited the rental property that he owns where the suspect and his girlfriend live, to talk about a broken refrigerator. The victim said that Reichenbach walked outside the residence with the shotgun still pointed at him before returning inside and placing it on a coffee table.

After the victim gave his statement, sheriff's deputies interviewed Reichenbach's girlfriend, who was home at the time of the alleged incident. The suspect's girlfriend confirmed the victim's account of the incident.

The responding deputy observed a black shotgun sitting on the coffee table in the residence, which was loaded with four shells and had one shell in the chamber.

Reichenbach gave a conflicting story of the incident, saying he just opened the door with the shotgun, but did not point it at the victim. He said he did so because his truck was left running outside his residence and that he wanted to make sure someone wasn't trying to steal it.

After the victim's statement and Reichenbach's girlfriend's matching account, the suspect was arrested and booked into the Nye County Detention Center on $2,000 bond.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @mickakers