Vegas Anchor "On Leave" after Arrest
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It looks like one Vegas station has cut the Cheese.
At least for awhile anyways....
FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that KTNV Anchor Rikki Cheese had been arrested on DUI charges.
KTNV now says that Cheese is "on leave" from the station.
Now some details are emerging about her arrest.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Cheese was arrested last Thursday in front of her northwest valley home.
Cheese typically anchors the station’s live newscast at 3 p.m. and reports for other newscasts, according to a biography on the station’s website. She was not at work the day of her arrest, which happened about 4:30 p.m.
Police were initially dispatched to Cheese’s home address on Thursday after a person called 911 and requested a welfare check on Cheese’s behalf. It’s unclear who called or why the caller was concerned.
When the responding officer arrived at Cheese’s home, he watched Cheese “driving up to the residence and parking,” the report reads.
The officer greeted Cheese at her parked sport utility vehicle, where he “immediately noticed signs of impairment,” the report reads. She had a “strong” smell of alcohol on her breath, her eyes were “glassy” and “bloodshot,” and when she got out of her SUV, the report said she was “stumbling” and “staggering.”
Cheese was “polite” and “cooperative” as the officer questioned her. According to the report, Cheese told the officer she hadn’t had an alcoholic drink in two weeks and was pulling up to her house after a trip to Petco.
Despite what Cheese said, she was arrested that afternoon on a misdemeanor DUI charge; she caused no damage or harm while driving, the report read.
A family member paid $2,115 to bail her out later that evening, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court documents. She is due in court June 20.
“Rikki Cheese is on leave pending further investigation of her arrest,” the station’s vice president and general manager Jim Prather said Tuesday afternoon. He declined to clarify whether she was on paid leave, citing that it was a “personnel matter.”
