Burn victim still in hospital

Staff Reports

The mother of a man whose leg was set on fire at a party in the Pine Nut Mountains said he underwent surgery to remove the dead skin on Tuesday and will have to have skin grafts.

"This has taken a terrible toll," she said in East Fork Justice Court on Wednesday. "He had a skin infection and they had to delay doing the skin graft."

The woman spoke during a hearing for Trent Clanton, the man who allegedly doused the victim's leg in gasoline from a beer can and set it on fire.

Clanton, 22, of Gardnerville is on house arrest while awaiting the resolution of charges against him that include mayhem, battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm, and battery causing substantial bodily harm, all felonies.

Clanton's hearing was delayed until May 2 to give the victim time to heal before the case is heard again.

The victim was treated at Carson Valley Medical Center for second- and third-degree burns and nerve damage to his right calf from just below the knee to above the ankle.

-- A woman who allegedly embezzled $61,000 from a Gardnerville gas card company waived a preliminary hearing and will go straight to district court to face charges.

Laura Kelly, 37, also paid $5,000 cash bail required for her to stay on house arrest.

Kelly was also ordered to have at least $1,500 to pay in restitution when she appeared in district court on June 5.

"Feel free to bring more," Justice of the Peace Jim EnEarl told her in setting the date.

Kelly was arrested on March 7 on a charge of grand larceny for allegedly stealing money from Petroleum Card Services of Gardnerville. The company works with First Data Bank to process credit card transactions and merchant accounts for gas stations nationwide.

Kelly is accused of taking money using secured merchant account information to steal the money from June to November 2006.

-- A Gardnerville Ranchos man was sentenced to a year in jail after admitting to domestic battery against a 12-year-old girl.

Jeffrey Rudow, 35, received two 180-day jail terms on Wednesday for domestic battery.

Rudow's sentence was suspended for two years by Justice of the Peace Jim EnEarl.

EnEarl asked Rudow why he put a 12-year-old girl in a choke hold during an altercation at his home.

"I didn't put her in a choke hold," Rudow said. "I was just trying to get the phone."

The girl was calling 911.

EnEarl told Rudow that the next drink he took would result in his incarceration.

"Before you were driving drunk, now you are hurting people," EnEarl said. "You can be a drunk or you can be a dad, but you can't be both."