Henderson Councilwoman Carrie Cox pleads not guilty to recording colleague

Henderson Councilwoman Carrie Cox pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of monitoring or attempting to monitor a private conversation that involved another councilwoman and local business leaders in January.

Cox told Senior Judge David Barker at Tuesday’s hearing that she understood the charges being brought against her and waived the right to a trial within 60 days.

Cox and her attorney Josh Tomsheck declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

A day earlier, Cox was censured at a special Henderson City Council meeting in connection with the alleged surreptitious recording of Councilwoman Monica Larson and other alleged ethical violations highlighted in a Metropolitan Police Department report that led to Cox’s indictment earlier this month.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Barker also continued a no-contact order between Cox and Larson.

Police said Larson was having a private conversation with real estate broker Michael Hiltz and developer Richard Smith at Henderson City Hall in January when Cox emerged from a curtain and told them she had been recording them. Detectives searched Cox’s Apple iCloud account, which revealed a video appearing to show Cox behind a curtain recording a muffled conversation, as well as several alleged violations of Nevada’s ethics law.

The censure resolution passed 4-0 Monday limits Cox’s communications with city officials to only the Henderson city clerk, the city attorney and the city manager’s offices. A censure is described by Nevada statute as a formal written condemnation of a public officer or employee and can be considered if the alleged offender “willfully violated” the state’s ethics law or if evidence shows the violation happened in bad faith, with malicious intent or reckless disregard for the law.

The measure does not remove Cox from office or prevent her from running for re-election in 2026.

Cox not resigning

Larson, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, told reporters afterward that the council censured Cox because of allegations she ran an unlicensed childcare business out of her home, meddled in Henderson Police Department affairs, used city resources to write a character letter for an acquaintance facing discipline from a state licensing board and leaked information to reporters.

“Censuring was a result of an over 70-page report by the Metro Police Department’s specialized unit for political corruption,” said Larson, who on Monday called on Cox to resign. “That has nothing to do with today … censure had to happen due to the egregious incidents that are listed in the report.”

Larson declined to comment on specifics of Tuesday’s proceeding.

“I’m confident that justice will prevail,” Larson said.

Cox said in a statement Monday she would not resign. Tomsheck also did not attend Monday’s meeting, but instead submitted a letter alleging the censure resolution deprived Cox of due process and targets her for allegations she has not been charged with.

While some residents who attended Monday’s meeting worried the censure is being used to politically damage Cox, who is running for re-election in 2026, Henderson City Attorney Nicholas Vaskov said the city has the right to censure Cox based on allegations that haven’t been proven yet in court.

“The governing body may at its discretion issue a censure based merely on allegations when it determines that such allegations warrant a formal statement of disapproval,” Vaskov said.

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.