PHILLIP GOMEZ / PVT Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo: "The homeless are usually (just) a nuisance problem." Advertisement

Three rapes have occurred in Pahrump so far this year, but the recent one involving force by a so-called homeless man is the first time "this aggressive an act" was committed in the town, said Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

"This is rare," said DeMeo. "We've had sexual assaults, but the assailant was always known by the victim."

In the case of Robert Steven Yowell, DeMeo said, "We've had contact with him on numerous occasions. He's been in and out of our detention facility numerous times. He hangs out at Wal-Mart and asks for money. But he's never shown any aggressiveness to my experience."

DeMeo and Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett both cautioned that people shouldn't jump to conclusions about Pahrump's homeless population, frequently seen in Petrack Park and numbering only seven at the present time.

"They're usually a nuisance problem," said DeMeo. Yowell, the defendant in the recent rape, is a known panhandler who hangs out in front of Wal-Mart, DeMeo said.

The homeless problem involves "quality of life" issues for the residents of Pahrump, said DeMeo. Other communities across the United States, including nearby Las Vegas, have had much serious problems with much larger populations of the homeless.

DeMeo and Beckett said people need to understand that homeless people have the same civil rights as residents. "They are a protected class," said DeMeo, "and can't be singled out for selective enforcement."

Although many residents may not like the way homeless people smell or the fact that they apparently have no money and don't have any visible means of support, i.e., work, those "life qualities" in and of themselves are not against the law.

Nor does camping out in Petrack Park violate any town ordinance, said DeMeo.

Rape does violate a person's right to personal protection, however, and could be said to have sociological origins in the homeless world.

Rape, DeMeo said, "is a crime of violence, of empowerment. It's a crime of anger and empowerment. The sexual aspect is just a way of allowing that; it's not an issue of sexual gratification, as many people believe."

DeMeo added, "I've even had in my experience a 12-year-old juvenile rape a 91-year-old woman."

The Sheriff's Office is currently developing an ordinance to deal with the nuisances of the homeless problem in Pahrump in a way that would not violate their civil rights. Putting an end to drinking alcohol in Petrack Park is high on the list, DeMeo said, but if it becomes law, it must be enforced on everyone.

That would mean banning alcoholic beverages at civic functions, such as the Fall Festival, where beer has traditionally been sold.

The hope is that such an ordinance would curtail the "diminishing of the quality of life" by the homeless for residents who want to use the park throughout the year.

But the ordinance would have to be applied across the board, DeMeo said, in order to avoid civil litgation for selective enforcement.

The only other legal means of "cracking down" on the effects of the homeless in Pahrump would be to pass a curfew ordinance. But that, too, could not be selectively applied, and would mean the loss of ordinary residents' freedom of movement.

"Every problem you see with the homeless," DeMeo said, "you would have to apply (the legal remedy) equally to all."

Sheriff's Office Southern Command Capt. Bill Becht is preparing an action plan to deal with the problem, DeMeo said. It will soon be presented to the Pahrump Town Board, which so far has not been able to decide what to do, he said.

"We do not see the problem getting any better," DeMeo said. The homeless population has increased by three since he has been in office, he said.

"People want selective enforcement of just the homeless population, to be arrested for drunkenness," DeMeo said. "We have to make sure there is no disparagement."