Clark County Recorder Frances Deane appears at a preliminary hearing Thursday held to determine whether there was enough evidence to send her case to District Court for trial. Photos by Gary Thompson.
Assistant County Recorder Charles Harvey testifies Thursday. He said he became suspicious last year of Frances Deane's interactions with businessman Monty Miller.
Shortly after Clark County Recorder Frances Deane was arrested last month on allegations of accepting bribes, a Las Vegas detective told the politician that police were investigating "bigger fish" in the case and wanted her to cooperate.
Detective Robert Whiteley, who works for the Las Vegas police Criminal Intelligence Unit, testified Thursday that he made the comment to Deane while she was being walked through the Clark County Detention Center.
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"We think she's part of a bigger investigation, and if she would like to cooperate, she could," Whiteley said he told Deane after her arrest. The detective said Deane elected not to make a statement.
The detective's testimony came during the second day of Deane's preliminary hearing in the courtroom of Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron. After the conclusion of the hearing, Bennett-Haron chose not to rule immediately on whether there was enough evidence to send Deane's criminal case to District Court for trial.
Instead, she ordered a transcript of the proceedings and said she would rule on the matter in 70 days. The judge said she would announce her decision on Sept. 14.
When asked later about Whiteley's testimony, Sheriff Bill Young said only that "we believe there are several people involved in this" and declined to comment further.
Authorities allege that Deane conspired to sell secretly the computerized records of up to 60 million county documents.
The records include items such as title, foreclosure, lien and loan records. Deane was charged last month with 19 felony counts, including misconduct of a public officer, fraudulent appropriation of property, theft and unlawful commissions, personal profit and compensation of public officers.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In court testimony Wednesday, Las Vegas businessman Monty Miller testified that he hand-delivered two $10,000 cash payments to Deane last year for access to the records. Miller, a regular donor to Republican political campaigns in Southern Nevada, said he planned to resell the documents to title companies for as much as $1 million.
Another businessman, Joseph Gekko, testified Wednesday that two of his workers delivered $16,000 in cash, hidden in stuffed animals, to Deane for access to the same information.
Both Gekko and Miller have signed agreements to testify against Deane to avoid prosecution.
In court Thursday, Deane's attorney, Conrad Claus, said the credibility of Miller and Gekko was suspect. He called Miller a "shady political actor" and Gekko a "sleazy businessman," adding that Gekko "obtains his information through hook or crook."
Also in court Thursday, Assistant Clark County Recorder Charles Harvey testified that he became suspicious last year of Deane's interactions with Miller. Harvey, a candidate for recorder, said that in August he encountered a recorder's office employee, Sid Rabin, copying documents in the office onto a large computer hard drive.
"I asked Sid what we are doing, and he told me he had been asked to download images on this drive," Harvey said. "He'd been told to download images by Fran Deane on behalf of Monty Miller."
"I said this is not something we normally do. And, furthermore, how is it being paid for?" Harvey said.
He said he approached Deane and expressed his concerns, and Deane told him that Miller "had asked her for the information and if we didn't provide it, he would go to Thom Reilly, the county manager."
Miller testified Wednesday that it was Deane who told him to produce a letter threatening to go to the county manager if she did not provide him the information.
Harvey said it eventually was determined by office staff that if the information was going to be provided to Miller, he had to be charged a rate identical to what members of the general public would be charged, and it was determined by staff in the recorder's office that $50,000 was an appropriate price.
"Ms. Deane (seemed) happy," Harvey said. "The money, it was so high that Mr. Miller wouldn't want it."
But a short time later, Harvey noticed that a hard drive containing the information was relocated from Rabin's office to Deane's office.
"My concerns were that was not a normal practice," Harvey said.
A short time later, he noticed Deane coming into the office carrying what appeared to be an empty knapsack-type bag.
"A couple of hours later, I saw her leave with a full bag," Harvey said.
Harvey said he then looked into Deane's office and noticed that the hard drive was gone.
He said he asked Rabin to call Miller to see whether he had received the hard drive. Rabin contradicted that testimony, saying he never called Miller.
A day or two later, Harvey said the hard drive reappeared in Deane's office.
When he questioned Deane about the matter, she denied providing the materials to Miller.
"Ms. Deane said he had not received it, that it (the hard drive) had not left the office," Harvey said.
