Michael Sams holds paperwork documenting how Henderson officials repeatedly told him in 2004 that an audiotape from his criminal case had been destroyed. But when his case was on the verge of dismissal, the tape was retrieved. Photo by John Gurzinski.

When Michael Sams read a Review-Journal story about a 911 tape that disappeared and then mysteriously reappeared in a Henderson criminal case, he had a feeling of déjá vu.

Nearly two years ago, Sams said, the same thing happened to him. While fighting a misdemeanor arrest for obstructing a Henderson police officer in 2004, the ex-convict said he asked police for recordings of police radio transmissions related to his case.

The city attorney's office repeatedly told Sams and his attorney, Amy Chelini, that the recordings didn't exist.

"They told me the recordings couldn't be produced because of a technology failure," Sams said.

But when Sams subsequently sought a dismissal of his criminal case because of the missing evidence, the city attorney's office announced that the police had the audio recordings after all. They then provided Sams with a "reconstructed" version of the tapes.

The case is the second to surface recently in which Henderson officials have had problems securing police audio recordings in criminal proceedings. Only two weeks ago, the Review-Journal documented how Henderson resident Dennis Paul Sarfaty was told on four different occasions by the Henderson city attorney's office that a 911 tape related to his domestic violence arrest didn't exist because of technological problems.

But when Sarfaty's case was on the verge of dismissal, police produced the 911 tape.

"It shows this is not an isolated incident," said Sarfaty's attorney, Al Lasso. "You wonder how much other stuff is out there that has never been turned over."

Henderson officials, however, say they don't believe there is a problem. Henderson police spokesman Keith Paul said the police audio recording systems are adequate.

"I'm confident the evidence will show 911 tapes are recorded and retrieved properly," Paul said.

Paul and Deputy City Attorney David Mincavage declined further comment, citing the fact that the matter is scheduled for a hearing in Henderson Municipal Court on March 22.

Sams spent six years in prison for burglary. He also has multiple prior arrests in Henderson, including the obstruction charge. He reportedly spent several months in front of the Henderson court facilities holding a blank sign in a protest of what he said were repeated violations of his rights in the city.

Sams said he was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by police in Henderson in 2003. He later was arrested on an obstruction charge stemming from that police stop, and Sams said he wanted to fight it.

He and his court-appointed attorney, Chelini, subsequently sought copies of any radio transmissions made by police before his arrest because Sams said police didn't have probable cause to stop the vehicle he was in to begin with.

Sams and Chelini said they were told that the recordings didn't exist because of a technological problem. Chelini later withdrew from the case, and Sams represented himself.

According to court records, the city attorney's office indicated that the audio recordings didn't exist.

"The city of Henderson reported that recordings of those transmissions for the date in question were unavailable due to a technology failure," wrote assistant City Attorney Robert Zentz in 2004.

Zentz went on to say that on Jan. 20, 2004, the city attorney's office continually tried to retrieve the tapes.

"The City of Henderson understood that no recordings of police radio transmissions or 911 calls were able to be retrieved," Zentz said.

But Zentz said that two days later, the police department was able to retrieve the radio transmissions.

Sams said he later received a 90-second audio recording of poor quality documenting the traffic stop.

He said he eventually was convicted of the obstruction charge and sentenced to between 30 days and 60 days in jail.

In addition to Sarfaty's case, local civil attorney Leo Flangas said Wednesday that he had problems obtaining an audiotape from the city of Henderson while litigating a civil suit against the city in 2003.

Flangas had sued the city on behalf of 85-year-old Charlie Walker, who accused Henderson police officers of beating him during the elderly man's arrest in downtown Henderson.

Flangas said he had asked for all information relevant to the case as the lawsuit proceeded through the courts.

It wasn't until months later, however, that he gained access to police Internal Affairs documents indicating that an officer involved in the incident with Walker had made an audiotape of the events.

Flangas said he demanded a copy of the audiotape and was told by the city that it was lost. According to Flangas, when a judge in the case considered sanctioning the city, the tape appeared.

"Miraculously," Flangas said.

The civil suit filed by Walker subsequently was settled.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said Henderson officials need to determine why there has been a problem accessing the records and fix it.

"It doesn't matter whether it is a felony case or not," Lichtenstein said.

"If the system does not work properly, people lose confidence in it."