LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Defense witnesses took stand via video conference for former Alpine Motel owner Adolfo Orozco Tuesday afternoon.
Six people died in the Alpine Motel fire back in December 2019.
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The preliminary hearing resumed last month and continued this week, after it was stopped in 2020 when a key investigator for the defense declined to testify.
Orozco is facing several charges including involuntary manslaughter.
The first person to testify Tuesday was John Sylva, the owner of Keonis Pest Management. He claimed he worked at Alpine Motel for Orozco nearly ten years ago.
Sylva was unable to remember the exact dates of when he did business with Orozco but claimed it was before 2014.
He was apparently called in as a character witness. When asked about why he stopped doing work for the apartments, Sylva said tents were not very cooperative and property management was poor.
Sylva claimed Orozco was a decent manager.
“Adolfo wasn’t that bad,” Sylva testified in court. “Trust me, I’ve had owners worse than him.”
According to Nevada Secretary of State documents, Orozco had been the owner of Alpine Motel since 2013.
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If Sylva had worked with Alpine Motel from the late 2000’s to before 2014, as he had claimed in court Tuesday, this timeline would have been before Orozco was the property owner.
Sylva testified in court, Orozco and him would meet in person to discuss apartment matters, often even at Alpine Motel.
The second person who testified was Lovie Sanders. Her testimony was brief and she was quickly dismissed.
The third witness called to stand was Renee Guerrero, who claimed she works at Olive Tree Hotel and Banquet in Jackson, Mississippi.
During testimony, she claimed she bought a Dodge Ram yellow “Bumblebee” from Orozco in 2019.
She was also claimed she started working for Orozco in 2018 at the Starlight Motel in Las Vegas.
The state prosecutor asked if Guerrero had been to the Alpine Motel before she moved out of the city, but faced opposition from the defense for the question being “out of scope.”
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Orozco’s preliminary hearing continues Wednesday. A judge will be determining if there is sufficient probable cause to move the criminal case to trial.
