Claims against School District police internal investigator complicate excessive force case

Misconduct allegations against an internal school police investigator are complicating a criminal case he helped the FBI put together.

Federal prosecutors filed court papers Friday seeking to prevent the allegations from being introduced as defense evidence in the excessive force case they brought against school police officer James Lescinsky last month.

Prosecutors said the allegations swirling around Christopher Klemp, the lone internal affairs investigator for the Clark County School District Police Department, are irrelevant to Lescinsky’s criminal case.

“The allegations against Mr. Klemp are so distant from the events of this case that they would serve only to distract the jury from its duty to dispassionately analyze the defendant’s conduct,” prosecutors wrote in their court papers. “Mr. Klemp has no first-hand knowledge of the incidents that occurred in this case, and the government does not anticipate calling him as a witness.”

Lescinsky, 45, was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges of using excessive force against two people, including a student, at a North Las Vegas disciplinary school, and then trying to cover it up. He pleaded not guilty and is free on his own recognizance.

Klemp has since come under investigation by police and the district attorney’s office for statements he made during a secretly recorded conversation with another school police officer.

The other officer, John Maier, was working undercover for the FBI to expose corruption within the school police department. The tape was made by Maier in December 2014 but did not surface until earlier this month.

A Las Vegas Review-Journal story on Sunday disclosed the contents of the tape, which included Klemp making disclosures about another internal investigation to Maier and instructing him to blame the leak on a police union member.

Prosecutors, who attached a copy of the newspaper’s story as an exhibit to their court papers, said audio recordings of Klemp’s interviews during his internal investigation of Lescinsky have been turned over to the defense.

Klemp’s Reno lawyer, Jack Campbell, could not be reached for comment Friday, but he will have a chance to respond to prosecutors in writing.

Since the Review-Journal story, five current and former school police officers signed a letter asking District Attorney Steve Wolfson to investigate allegations of wrongdoing involving Klemp. Wolfson promised to review the allegations carefully.

Klemp has twice hung up on a reporter seeking comment on the allegations.

The tape of Klemp’s conversation with Maier has raised new concerns about a longstanding toxic culture at the school police department that prompted at least four of its officers to cooperate with the FBI.

The concerns stem from a 2009 party that allowed underage drinking and was attended by police employees. A young drunken driver who left the party struck and killed UNLV honors student Angela Peterson. Since then, whistleblowers within the school police department have been fighting to expose an alleged cover-up of the presence of officers amid the illegal conduct.

Two of those whistleblowers, former Lt. Dan Burgess and ex-officer Mike Thomas, were among the five officers who signed the letter to Wolfson. Both men, who joined Maier in cooperating with the FBI, are fighting to get their jobs back and contend they were fired because of skewed investigations by Klemp aimed at retaliating against them.

Maier, who also signed the letter and remains at the school police department, secretly taped the Dec. 18, 2014, conversation with Klemp at a local Starbucks. The tape and transcript surfaced June 1 during Burgess’ arbitration hearing. Two days later Klemp was reassigned.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find @JGermanRJ on Twitter.