Las Vegas attorney Alexis Plunkett to remain in jail without bail

A judge ordered Las Vegas attorney Alexis Plunkett, mired in legal trouble and facing two separate criminal cases, held without bail Wednesday.

Plunkett, 38, was arrested a day earlier on charges of bribing or intimidating a witness and dissuading or preventing a person from testifying.

Her arrest report was made public hours after she faced the judge. It alleges that she made at least two Facebook posts, including one on her law office’s page and another using a pseudonym on the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s page, in which she discussed a “snitch.” Each post used the same rat emoji, according to the heavily redacted report.

Investigators traced the phony Facebook account to Plunkett through her computer’s Internet service provider address.

In a comment section of the newspaper’s Facebook account, according to the arrest report, a post mentioned “a confirmed snitch” and stated, “I’m sure she’s already ratted on all of them by now.”

The report alleges that Plunkett later used the phony account to post the woman’s mug shot and the comment: “This nasty creature is a known snitch.”

The newspaper has since identified the Facebook comments and removed them.

According to the arrest report, Plunkett also sent various text messages that day about the woman she had labeled an informant. In one, she included the mug shot of the same person the pseudonym account had identified on the RJ’s Facebook page.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini ruled that Plunkett must remain in the Clark County Detention Center without bail until at least Friday. Chelini made the ruling after prosecutors said they would ask another judge to review the latest charges against the lawyer.

A criminal complaint alleges that on Dec. 5 Plunkett tried to influence testimony of an unnamed witness “with the intent that the statement would threaten, intimidate, and/or place witness in danger of being harmed.”

Meanwhile, defense attorney Adam Solinger told the judge that he wanted the newest charges dismissed.

Plunkett was brought into Chelini’s courtroom in a belly chain, wearing a black shirt, with forearm tattoos exposed under her rolled-up sleeves, and county-issued blue pants and orange rubber shoes. She did not speak during the brief hearing.

In January, investigators questioned Plunkett at the Regional Justice Center, where she agreed to allow them to search her car and home. Detectives recovered computers and cellphones.

According to the arrest report, Plunkett sent a text message on Dec. 5 discussing a “snitch” and commenting, “She’ll get hers for that.”

The detective wrote in the report, “The statement clearly indicates Plunkett knows [name withheld] will receive some type of retribution if she is identified as cooperating.”

A month earlier, prosecutors accused Plunkett of threatening to have her former boyfriend killed behind bars.

The lawyer previously was accused of providing cellphones to jailed inmates, including the former boyfriend.

At a hearing in January, a judge issued Plunkett a stern lecture but refused to jail her in connection with the alleged threats.

According to the State Bar of Nevada website, Plunkett attended law school at the University of Arizona and has been licensed in Nevada since 2009. Her status is listed as “active.”

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.