Lawsuit: Las Vegas officer requested explicit photos from minors in 2024

A lawsuit filed this week in District Court accuses the Metropolitan Police Department of negligence and an officer of sending sexually explicit messages and requesting pornographic photographs from minors in 2024.

The suit, filed by Clark County resident Maya Ruiz Valdez and her three underage daughters, claims in a 13-page complaint that then Metro officer Harvey Velazquez sent “sexually explicit and inappropriate” messages to two of Valdez’s daughters, which included requests for “pornographic photographs” and sexual favors.

The plaintiffs also allege Metro, as well as the supervisors, superiors and other co-workers knew or should have known of Velazquez’s “unfitness for duty and failed to take appropriate disciplinary or preventative action despite warning signs,” and other conduct they allege was negligent, intentional, and resulted in severe emotional distress, fear and trauma. Plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $15,000, the complaint said.

Online records from the Nevada Department of corrections show Velazquez is serving a sentence of up to 15 years on charges including soliciting a child for prostitution and luring a child to engage in a sexual act.

Velazquez is serving his sentence at Ely State Prison and must register as a sex offender once released, records show.

Metro in an email said Velazquez is no longer employed at the department and declined to state whether he was ever the subject of an internal investigation. Velazquez’s attorney in his criminal case, Nicholas Wooldridge, said Friday he has not been retained for a civil case involving Velazquez.

The case file for the lawsuit filed this week does not yet list attorneys for either Metro or Velazquez. Plaintiff attorneys Brian Clark and Lukas McCourt of the Las Vegas-based law firm Clark McCourt LLC were unavailable for comment.

Lawsuit allegations

The lawsuit alleges that on Feb. 16, 2024, Velazquez engaged in “inappropriate and unlawful conduct” toward two of Valdez’s daughters, both of whom were under the age of 16. In addition to “sexually explicit and inappropriate messages” sent to those two girls, Velazquez is also said to have attempted to reach Valdez’s third daughter through social media but was urged by Valdez to block Velazquez.

“At all relevant times, defendant Velazquez was employed by defendant LVMPD and used his position, trust, and authority to gain access to and manipulate the minor plaintiffs,” the complaint states. It does not detail how Velazquez met Valdez or her daughters or provide a copy of Velazquez’s alleged correspondence with the girls.

The plaintiffs also believe that Metro supervisors, investigators and other police personnel had knowledge of prior misconduct by Velazquez and failed to appropriately document it, according to the complaint. The suit also blames the department for failing to escalate or respond to internal complaints and failing to implement safeguards to prevent further harm to the minor plaintiffs, as well as failing to investigate or discipline Velazquez “despite signs of misconduct.” The complaint does not provide evidence of the alleged prior misconduct.

Upon learning of the alleged abuse, Valdez relocated her family to Arizona “to protect her daughters from further trauma and to secure necessary medical and psychological treatment,” the lawsuit says. The complaint states the plaintiffs are Clark County residents.

Defendants, according to the suit, acted with “oppression, fraud, or malice” in that their conduct was “willful, intentional, and carried out with conscious disregard of the rights and safety of others,” including the plaintiffs.

“Defendants’ actions were so extreme and outrageous as to warrant the imposition of punitive damages for the sake of example and by way of punishing defendants,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiffs therefore seek an award of punitive and exemplary damages in an amount appropriate to punish defendants and to deter others from engaging in similar conduct.”

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.