Jury convicts man in eluding case

A 55-year-old man convicted Friday by a jury on charges of attempted eluding and battery on an officer faces a Sept. 11 sentencing date.

Hector Juarez Leon was arrested on March 24 after a very public chase north of Minden that resulted in his vehicle hitting the barrier in the middle of Highway 395 south of Genoa Lane.

Juarez Leon was driving a white GMC pickup north at speeds of up to 90 mph with deputies in pursuit.

After brake checking deputies, a pursuit intervention technique was used to spin the pickup into the barrier.

Leon's attorney said the jury hung on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

• Owner of Saku Sushi and Grill spoke Monday against the former bookkeeper who embezzled more than $100,000 from the restaurant.

“I don’t know how many times I said, ‘Oh no, he’s doing it again,’” she said. “He has destroyed my financial life.”

David Anthony Duran, 54, took at least $123,938 while working at the restaurant between April 30, 2018, to Oct. 17, 2019. Duran was sentenced to five years in prison and given credit for 396 days.

• Convicted felons are not allowed to carry a firearm, which is why 53-year-old Michael Bruce Adams was sentenced to up to five years in prison Monday. 

Adams was arrested in April with a Torres revolver in his possession, after he’d been convicted of a felony of possession of a controlled substance in February 2017.

• A woman, who claimed to have 333 days of sobriety, was sent to prison for up to 2 years on Monday for failing Western Nevada Regional Drug Court.

Tarah Marguerite Cartwright, 52, was arrested in December 2020 with methamphetamine and paraphernalia.