Saturday, February 14, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Arrested investigator received pardon in 1989

Baldonado had trust, support of judges, justices, records show

CARSON CITY -- A Clark County investigator arrested this week by the FBI had supporters in high places when he received a full pardon in 1989 on his conviction in connection with an $8,000 casino theft.

Pardons Board records released Friday to the Review-Journal show district attorney's office investigator Peter S. Baldonado was praised by former Supreme Court Justices E.M. Gunderson and Myron Leavitt and former District Judges Michael Wendell and Thomas Foley.

Their letters were given to the state Pardons Board in May 1989. Members then unanimously pardoned Baldonado, now 59, for the gross misdemeanor crime of conspiracy to obtain money under false pretenses.

Brian McKay, who was attorney general and a member of the Pardons Board at the time, said Thursday he was persuaded to approve the pardon because of Wendell. He said he did not know Baldonado, but respected the judge.

The Pardons Board consists of the governor, attorney general and all members of the Supreme Court.

The records show Baldonado schemed with a friend to steal at least $8,000 from Caesars Palace in 1982 and 1983. As a floorman at the casino, Baldonado handled marker slips. The friend on at least four occasions was given marker slips for $5,000 in chips. After the man received the chips, Baldonado erased the $5,000 amount, replacing it with $3,000.

Baldonado later told investigators he thought he could "beat the system and make some easy money." He said he used the money to outfit a women's softball team he coached.

Baldonado was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of bribery charges in Las Vegas. Authorities said he offered to suppress a woman's warrants in exchange for sex.

He has been an investigator with the district attorney's office since 1991.

But only a few months after he was sentenced in January 1984 by then District Judge Miriam Shearing on the gaming crime charges, Baldonado was working as a blackjack dealer at Binion's Horseshoe.

A year later Wendell hired him as his court bailiff.

Baldonado was fined $1,000 by Shearing for the crime. Now a Supreme Court justice, Shearing did not oppose Baldonado's pardon, according to the records.

The Gaming Control Board and Caesars Palace opposed the pardon.

Baldonado had worked at Caesars Palace for more than 10 years and the markers' crime was his first arrest, according to the records.

The Pardons Board released the records to the Review-Journal after removing some records, such as income tax returns, that the attorney general's office deemed confidential.

In his letter to the Pardons Board, Wendell called Baldonado a "caring person of excellent character and integrity." Wendell retired in 1991 after 20 years on the bench.

"I believe I am in a position to express an opinion as to his character and can say without reservation that our trust would not be misplaced in any situation," Wendell said.

Gunderson, in his letter, praised Baldonado for work he performed at a convention. Leavitt, then a district judge, congratulated him for serving temporarily as a bailiff in his court.

Another former district judge, Thomas Foley, thanked him for his quick actions in quashing a disturbance at a trial.