Thursday, February 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

BRIBERY SUSPECT: DA office investigator in custody

FBI witness: Man offered to quash warrants for sexual favors

Peter Baldonado Clark County district attorney investigator's arrest shocks colleagues

A veteran investigator with the Clark County district attorney's office was arrested on suspicion of bribery Wednesday after authorities said he offered to suppress a woman's warrants in exchange for sex.

Peter S. Baldonado, who has worked on several high-profile murder investigations in Southern Nevada, was handcuffed and escorted out of the district attorney's office by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation shortly after 10 a.m.

"I felt sick when I learned one of our own was involved in wrongdoing," District Attorney David Roger said.

However, Wednesday's arrest was not Baldonado's first brush with the law.

Two decades ago, in 1983, Baldonado was charged with stealing thousands of dollars from Caesars Palace, where he worked as a floorman in a blackjack pit.

Despite a subsequent gross misdemeanor conviction for conspiracy to obtain money under false pretenses, Baldonado was able to get a job as a courtroom bailiff in Clark County in 1986. In 1989, he was granted a pardon by the Nevada Pardons Board, said Dorla Salling, chairman of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.

In 1991, Baldonado transferred to the district attorney's office and was promoted to a senior investigative position in 1996. Investigators with the district attorney's office carry a gun, a badge and perform investigations on behalf of prosecutors.

According to police records filed in Henderson Justice Court on Wednesday, the bribery inquiry that culminated with Baldonado's arrest started in January, when a cooperating witness for the FBI contacted the agency. The unidentified woman said a man named "Pete" approached her and offered to quash her outstanding warrants in return for sex.

The woman told federal agents she believed "Pete" was employed by the district attorney's office.

"(He) offered to take care of any warrants that (the) cooperating witness may have in return for sexual favors," an officer's declaration of arrest states.

The woman gave the FBI a cell phone number and license plate number belonging to "Pete," and the agency traced the numbers to Baldonado at the district attorney's office. The FBI contacted Roger, who offered any support the FBI needed in its investigation, according to the police records.

On Jan. 27, the police reports state, the witness made a tape-recorded call to Baldonado and said she had outstanding warrants that needed to be resolved. Baldonado set up a meeting with the woman.

The woman wore a recording device to the meeting, according to police reports, and the meeting was the subject of visual surveillance by the FBI as well.

"Cooperating witness advised that during their meeting, Baldonado requested sex in exchange for helping her out with warrants," the police report states. "Baldonado also mentioned the names of three other girls he was trying to get a hold of."

The conversation was confirmed via the recording device, according to police reports.

FBI agents then went back to Roger, who issued a criminal complaint on the bribery charge.

Roger said Wednesday that he personally escorted an FBI agent to the Major Violator's Unit of the district attorney's office, where Baldonado works.

"I can tell you that he is cooperating fully with the FBI in their investigation," Roger said. "He asked that he be able to convey his apologies to me and the office."

The arrest stunned employees of the district attorney's office. By most accounts, Baldonado was viewed in the office as a top-notch investigator whose integrity was not in question.

"Shock and disbelief, mostly disbelief," said Clark County prosecutor Frank Coumou, who worked directly with Baldonado on several murder cases.

"Excellent investigator. One of the best investigators in the office," Coumou said.

Roger said Baldonado is expected to be prosecuted by the Nevada attorney general's office to avoid a conflict of interest.

Roger said in order for a warrant to be quashed, such a move has to be approved by a judge. It is not uncommon, however, for someone to ask a judge to quash a warrant if the person can represent that there is a sufficient reason to do so.

Baldonado, in his work for the district attorney's office, has worked as an investigator on multiple high-profile murder cases. He was recently a crucial witness in the murder trial of Pascual Lozano, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the slaying of 9-year-old Genesis Gonzalez.

During Lozano's trial last year, Gonzalez's older sister, Tanya, testified that she witnessed the shooting of her sister, but that she could not say what the ethnicity of her sister's killer was.

Baldonado was then called to the stand, and he testified that during a pretrial interview, Tanya Gonzalez said the gunman was Hispanic.

Lozano is Hispanic, and the race of the gunman became a crucial issue in identification of the shooter during the trial.

Clark County Deputy Special Public Defender Bret Whipple, who represents Lozano, recently petitioned District Judge John McGroarty for a new trial for Lozano. One of the issues raised in Lozano's appeal was the claim that Tanya Gonzalez told a defense investigator that she never said the gunman was Hispanic, as Baldonado testified.

Contacted Wednesday and informed of Baldonado's arrest, Whipple said he was saddened by the news.

"I have the highest regard for Mr. Baldonado, and I'm surprised to learn of any type of criminal action against him," Whipple said.

Nonetheless, Whipple said, "it will be an issue for an appeal in our case."

Clark County prosecutor Ed Kane said Baldonado's testimony at trial is not in question because Kane and another prosecutor were present when Tanya Gonzalez said the gunman in the case was Hispanic.

"We were both there. We know what was said," Kane said.

Baldonado also worked on the investigation of Brookey Lee West, who was convicted in 2001 of murdering her mother and stashing the body in a garbage can in western Las Vegas, and on the prosecution of Jose Vigoa, who led a string of armed robberies on the Strip and killed a pair of armored truck guards in Henderson in 2000.

If convicted of the charge, Baldonado faces from one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. He was in the custody of the Clark County Detention Center.

Bail was listed at $3,000. No court date was immediately scheduled, according to a jail spokeswoman.

Review-Journal writer Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.