Battery required

Joseph Michael Provenza, 20, was arrested and booked on a number of vehicle violation charges when a disconnected battery cut short his attempt to flee from getting pulled over.

Provenza was spotted driving a windshield-less white Ford Escort by Nye County Sheriff's Office Capt. Bill Becht, who was patrolling near Gamebird Road and Winchester Street.

Becht, who was travelling the opposite direction of Provenza on Gamebird Road, noticed the vehicle was also missing its front license plate and as such was not only unsafe but might also be stolen.

Provenza initially pulled over onto the road's shoulder but as Becht turned his patrol car around to execute a traffic stop, he accelerated across the desert heading southbound from the road.

Becht pursued the vehicle across the desert for about a mile before the Escort stopped and Provenza was arrested.

"An inventory of the vehicle revealed that the battery had in fact come disconnected during the pursuit causing the vehicle to lose power, thus ending the pursuit," the sheriff's office press release stated.

Provenza was booked on charges of operating an unregistered motor vehicle, no insurance, driving with a suspended driver's license, attempting to elude a police officer, equipment violation (no windshield), no tailamps, and no reflectors.

He is being held on $2,479 bail.

Not a special delivery

A Papa John's pizza delivery man, unidentified by the sheriff's office, was robbed while making a delivery Friday, Feb. 22.

Nye County Sheriff's Office deputies were dispatched to the pizza joint, located on Highway 160 near Basin Avenue, for a reported robbery at approximately 11:43 p.m.

The victim of the robbery, an unidentified 23-year-old male, told deputies that at approximately 10 p.m. he received an order for a pizza to be delivered to a Parkwood Avenue address.

According to the sheriff's office press release, the delivery man told officers he was walking to the front door of the residence when two people approached him from the side of the place.

The victim reportedly told deputies that one of the individuals pulled a gun on him and both suspects demanded the delivery man give them his money.

The suspects also requested other items from the delivery man, but the press release did not specify what those were.

The robbers reportedly took the money and fled the area.

Deputies went to the delivery address and found the place empty, but reportedly did collect evidence.

As of this writing, the sheriff's office has not reported the suspects as located or arrested.

If and when they are found, however, they could be looking at possible charges of robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit a crime, and auto burglary.