LAS VEGAS (AP) - A property owner and his associate can be free on bail while they face manslaughter and criminal neglect charges following a fire last December that killed six people and became the deadliest residential fire in Las Vegas city history, a judge decided Tuesday.
Alpine Motel Apartments owner Adolfo Orozco-Garcia’s attorney said he can raise the $50,000 bail amount and co-defendant Malinda Mier’s lawyer said she can pay $10,000 to be freed.
Neither Orozco-Garcia nor Mier entered a plea ahead of an Aug. 18 preliminary hearing on 21 felony charges that, combined, could put each in prison for nearly 50 years.
Judge Ann Zimmerman ordered restrictions including electronic monitoring, surrender of passports and no contact with fire victims or witnesses.
Mier’s defense attorney, Kristina Wildeveld, said later her client will plead not guilty and wants a public airing of evidence rather than a grand jury review of the case.
Orozco-Garcia’s attorneys have said he’ll fight the charges. They blame a former live-in property manager for the deaths.
Orozco-Garcia and Mier are accused of putting tenants at risk at the aging former downtown motel where fire broke out before dawn in a first-floor unit on a chilly winter night. Some residents reported having used ovens for heat and climbing out of second- and third-story windows to escape smoke and flames.
Investigators reported finding inoperable fire exits, doors and alarms, along with faulty heating systems in some apartments.
Defense attorney Paola Armeni, representing Orozco-Garcia, said he also wants a public hearing of the evidence that led to additional felony charges alleging that he wielded a gun and offered money to two witness in the case to prevent them from talking to authorities.
“These two people who claim Adolfo intimidated them are not being truthful,” Armeni said. “We want the opportunity to demonstrate that right away.”
Orozco-Garcia told the judge Monday that he owns homes in Napa, California, and Las Vegas, where he has lived since 2013. He said he rented out seven houses and two four-unit apartment buildings, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The judge ordered that a management company handle his properties.
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