CCSO, Fallon police respond to separate incidents

Law enforcement agencies were busy with two major incidents Friday afternoon.

A fugitive on the run for 15 years was captured Friday after a tip led to the man’s arrest on his sister’s property on Tarzyn Road north of Fallon.

The manhunt that covered several states was featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted.” Churchill County Sheriff Richard Hickox said Wesley Allen Lattin failed to appear in district court on Aug. 25, 2005, on charges of sexual assault on a juvenile.

Late last week, Hickox said the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from the U.S. Marshals that Lattin was living in Churchill County on property owned by his brother-in-law and sister, Bruce and Becky Humphrey. The Sparks Police Department’s SWAT team and CCSO arrested Lattin after serving a search and seizure warrant.

According to Hickox, the tip revealed Lattin was living in an underground bunker near the property’s main residence. He said CCSO personnel observed Lattin entering and exiting the residence and doing work on the property.

“The subject was armed with a long gun during these trips in and out of the house and while walking around the property,” Hickox said.

The sheriff said law enforcement personnel discovered more than one bunker on the property.

“At least one of them was very elaborate and appeared to be more than a temporary shelter as it was equipped with a large bed, wall coverings, cooking utensils, solar panels and was equipped to get fresh air piped in,” Hickox said.

Lattin was booked into the Churchill County Jail.

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Fallon Police Department and the U.S. Navy’s EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit responded to a call of old dynamite stored in a residence on the 600 block of Humboldt Street.

“Today we received a contact from the public administrator who was going through the residence at this location clearing out property and discovered some unexploded ordnance that we identified as dynamite,” said Sgt. John Frandsen.

Frandsen said the FPD evacuated the area on both sides of Humboldt Street and from Front to Fairview streets. Officers went door to door notifying residences of the situation and telling them to evacuate.

The FPD requested the Navy EOD, and after several hours, Frandsen said the technicians rendered the area safe for residents to return.