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Judge refuses to lower bail for former police officer
District Judge Jackie Glass on Thursday refused to reduce the $400,000 bail of William Ronald Webb, the former Las Vegas police officer charged with plotting the death of his girlfriend, attorney Nancy Quon.
“Mr. Webb is facing very serious charges,” Glass said, adding she considers him a flight risk and a danger to the community and himself.
Webb’s attorney, John Momot, sought a “reasonable” bail to give Webb, a 17-year police veteran, a chance to secure his release from the Clark County Detention Center and seek medical and psychological treatment.
But Chief Deputy District Attorney Sandra DiGiacomo opposed the request, saying investigators were concerned Webb would flee if released.
“If he gets out, he will take off,” DiGiacomo said.
DiGiacomo also referred to a March 19 Las Vegas Review-Journal article that indicated prosecutors are looking to file new charges against Webb.
Webb, 43, and Quon, 50, face indictment on arson and insurance fraud charges stemming from an Oct. 28 fire that caused an estimated $250,000 to Quon’s 73 Dollar Pointe home.
Prosecutors have been presenting evidence to a county grand jury in the case the past two weeks and have given the pair until Wednesday to let them know whether they wish to testify.
DiGiacomo questioned the logic of the defense effort to get “lower bail even though more charges are coming.”
Webb, who has been behind bars since his Nov. 9 arrest, has been found competent to stand trial. But Momot contends his client is not receiving the “proper medication” to address his “underlying issues.”
DiGiacomo argued Thursday that Momot has not presented any evidence to back up those claims. But, she added, “There is information in the past he was suicidal, as well as Nancy Quon.”
Police believe Quon set the fire at her home in a botched suicide scheme. She was found unconscious in the burning home by Webb’s brother and revived by paramedics.
Webb and two-time felon Robert Justice, 45, are charged with unlawfully obtaining the club drug gamma-hydroxybutyric acid to give to Quon in what police believe was another suicide scheme. Webb and Justice thought at the time that the GHB would be undetected after Quon ingested it, a police report said.
Justice, who is now cooperating with police, told an undercover detective that Webb planned to kill himself following Quon’s death after he had collected insurance money for her two daughters and gotten her estate in order.
Quon, has denied participating in that scheme, but prosecutors expect to seek drug charges against her in the plot. Quon also has denied setting the fire at her home.
Investigators believe Webb and Quon plotted her demise because of an FBI investigation into allegations of fraud within homeowners associations around the Las Vegas Valley. Quon is considered a top target in the investigation.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.