Bail increased to $1M for suspended Las Vegas sergeant facing sex charges
A judge increased bail to $1 million Monday for a suspended Metropolitan Police Department sergeant after an attempt to disqualify the judge from the sergeant’s other criminal case failed.
Kevin Menon, 43, has been accused of illegally detaining people on the Strip, possessing sexual abuse imagery of children and setting up bathroom cameras that captured the genitalia and buttocks of his wife and sister-in-law, who have said the videos were consensual.
District Judge Ronald Israel said he was increasing bail at the request of prosecutors because of the allegations in the bathroom videos case.
Israel was the subject of a disqualification motion in the Strip case, based on an argument from defense attorneys that he “suffers from, at a minimum, implied bias” because abuse allegations his daughter has made would be investigated by the same Metro unit that employs a detective who looked into Menon, potentially leading Israel to avoid rulings unfavorable to police.
Metro has said there is no investigation into Israel, whose daughter claimed in YouTube and TikTok videos that her life was “completely at risk,” that her father withheld health care from her and that he “tried to pull a gun” on her.
District Judge Mark Denton denied the disqualification attempt in an April 29 order, but he granted a 14-day stay to allow for appeal.
Defense attorney Dominic Gentile, who represents Menon in the Strip case and advocated for the disqualification attempt, said he plans to file a petition for the state Supreme Court to review the decision on disqualifying Israel and will ask for the case to be paused while that appeal is addressed.
Israel also declared Menon indigent at the Monday hearing, which defense attorney Robert Draskovich said will qualify Menon to receive services such as forensic investigation at county expense. The determination will not cover Menon’s attorney fees, he said.
Draskovich said the new bail will keep his client in custody. Menon was also unable to come up with the previous $500,000 bail, he said.
The bathroom videos and child pornography cases have been combined, based on an agreement between Draskovich and prosecutors. Menon’s trial in the consolidated case is scheduled for Aug.18.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.