ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LAUGHLIN, NEV.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A former New Jersey prosecutor who jumped bail more than a week ago rather than go to prison shot himself to death Tuesday in a casino hotel room after federal marshals tracked him down and kicked in the door.
Nicholas Bissell, who was convicted of skimming $146,000 from his business to live a life of gambling and luxury, stuck a gun in his mouth and fired as officers tried to talk him into surrendering, marshals said.
The news stunned those who remembered him as a brash, often arrogant crimefighter proud of the millions in assets his office seized in drug cases.
Bissell, 49, had vanished Nov. 18 while under house arrest, cutting off his electronic monitoring bracelet and leaving it on a kitchen counter along with what was characterized as a suicide note. The contents were not disclosed.
He fled just two days before he was to be sentenced for fraud, abuse of power and other charges for which prosecutors planned to ask for a 10-year sentence. In going on the run, he forfeited his $300,000 bail - risking his own mother's condominium, which had been used to secure his bond.
Federal authorities would not say how he was tracked down at the Colorado Belle Hotel in this gambling town of 8,000 about 90 miles from Las Vegas. His green Jeep Cherokee was found nearby, with license plates that had been stolen in Kentucky.
Four deputy marshals and two police officers knocked on Bissell's door, then kicked it in, said Jim Umbach, deputy U.S. marshal in Phoenix. Bissell put a gun to his head but lowered it as marshals tried to negotiate with him, Umbach said.
``They said, `We'll take you in. There doesn't need to be any problems,''' Umbach said. ``They talked to him about his family and friends and people who care about him. Finally after about 10 minutes, he put the gun in his mouth and fired.''
Bissell liked to handle the big cases and it was he who presented charges to a grand jury in 1995 that ``Frasier'' star Kelsey Grammer had sexually assaulted a teen-ager. The grand jury refused to indict.
He developed a national reputation for his use of forfeiture law to confiscate drug defendants' assets before trial. He was just as likely to seize property from a small-time dealer as the leader of a multimillion-dollar ring.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bissell KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB