An accused drunk driver allegedly hit and killed a Marine veteran in Las Vegas before fleeing the US.
Iurie Trofim, 40, is accused of crashing his Ram 1500 pickup truck into Carson Heath, 55, on Aug. 26. The 55-year-old was riding a Yamaha motorcycle during the crash, which happened at around 11 p.m. near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip, according to 8 News Now.
Emergency personnel arrived at the crash site and began administering life-saving care to Heath, but the husband, father, and Marine Corps veteran was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nevada Highway Patrol investigated and discovered parts from a Ram 1500 at the scene, but the pickup truck was nowhere to be found.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department then contacted the Nevada Highway Patrol the following morning about a call they responded to regarding a wreck involving a Ram 1500 about 10 miles from the Strip, KSNV reported.
Police told the outlet that a witness had followed the truck after observing it driving on its rim and watching as the driver, later discovered to be Trofim, veered off the road and became stuck.
Trofim was arrested on suspicion of DUI and booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
Following his arrest, police matched the car parts found at the crash scene to Trofim’s Ram 1500.
He was then charged with driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and reckless driving resulting in death, failure to stop at an accident involving death, failure to render aid at a vehicle accident, failure to decrease speed or use due care, and failure to drive on the right half of roadway, according to court records obtained by KSNV.
The suspected drunk driver then appeared in front of a “pro tempore judge” — a non-elected judge sitting in as a substitute — on Aug. 28, 8 News Now reported.
The judge set Trofim on $10,000 bail, required him to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, and prohibited him from driving.
Trofim paid a bail bondsman $1,500 to secure his release, according to 8 News Now.
However, during his arraignment on Sept. 3, Trofim was nowhere to be found, and instead, an attorney appeared in court on his behalf and entered a not-guilty plea.
Prosecutor Yu Meng said in court on Tuesday that it appears Trofim had fled the US following the fatal crash in August and is now back in his native Moldova, about 6,000 miles away from Las Vegas.
“We’ve been trying to locate him since last week when we found out that he’s no longer here,” Meng said.
Trofim has dual citizenship but had been a long-time Las Vegas resident before he allegedly killed Heath.
Prosecutors later discovered that Trofim allegedly put his Vegas home up for sale just days after the hit-and-run.
Also, court records show that the alcohol-monitoring bracelet that Trofim was required to wear by the judge last pinged at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 31, according to the outlet.
The device allegedly did not have GPS capability and was not tracking his movements.
Moldova has no extradition treaty with the US, and the nation’s “constitution does not permit extradition of its nationals,” according to the State Department.
The Eastern European country’s prosecutor general’s office will handle requests for international legal assistance in the pre-trial phase at their discretion, while Moldova’s Ministry of Justice handles the in-trial and correctional phases.
However, there is no record of a recent extradition from Moldova to the United States.
A Las Vegas Justice Court Judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest on Tuesday, the outlet reported.
Heath’s family is outraged that the man who allegedly killed the husband and father while drunk behind the wheel is suspected to have fled the US.
“How is this individual not a flight risk in the eyes of any judge?” Heath’s cousin, Paula Donegan, told 8 News Now on Tuesday.
