Under investigation, marriage bureau employee quits

The marriage bureau employee being investigated to see if cash was mishandled or taken from the office has resigned, said Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre, who also said the inquiry will continue.

Her office has sent letters to about 7,000 couples served by the employee. The letters ask couples to check their documents and receipts to see if there are more discrepancies like the ones discovered by a local minister.

"We sent out letters to everybody he's issued licenses to," Parraguirre said. "We'll wait to how many of those we get back."

The discrepancies center on a $7 fee charged for a certified copy of the marriage license application, which is added to the $55 charged for the marriage license. The minister noticed that several couples had certified copies, but their receipts recorded only the $55 charge, even though they said they'd paid $62.

Once she has responses from couples, Parraguirre said, she plans to turn the information over to Las Vegas police for investigation.

The office is also looking into ways to better track the certified copies, which now are created by each clerk using a device that creates a raised stamp. That doesn't leave an audit trail, Parraguirre said, while generating the copies electronically or printing them on coded, numbered paper would.

The clerk, Brian Vanderbusse, had worked for the Las Vegas Marriage Bureau since June of 2007.