Las Vegas sergeant taken into custody after bail set at $500K in bathroom filming case

An embattled Las Vegas police sergeant left court in handcuffs after a judge ruled Monday that she would set his bail at $500,000.

Suspended Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Kevin Menon, 43, faces criminal charges in three separate cases. Prosecutors have accused him of illegally detaining people on the Strip, possessing hundreds of sexual images of young girls and installing cameras in bathroom vents that captured videos showing the genitalia and buttocks of his wife and sister-in-law.

The sergeant’s wife, Natasha Menon, and sister-in-law, Tamara Russell, have said the videos were consensual.

Prosecutors wanted District Judge Mary Kay Holthus to increase his bail to $1 million, an amount intended to keep him in jail. Although the bail she ordered was lower than they requested, Holthus’ decision meant Menon was taken into custody as his wife sobbed.

According to Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner, Menon installed the cameras while on bail in the detention case. That seemed to concern Holthus.

“When you’re out on bail, like he was, and you’re putting up secret cameras on your wife and sister-in-law, I think you have some problems that you may not be able to control them if you want to,” said the judge. “That’s kind of how it comes across. And with a, at minimum, interest in children and young teens, that causes me great concern.”

Menon can only post bail in cash, she said, and will be on high-level electronic monitoring if released.

‘He has a fetish’

The sole purpose of the cameras, said Hamner, was for Menon to record his wife and sister-in-law using the bathroom.

Natasha Menon, Menon’s wife, said in an affidavit that the whole house was under surveillance.

But that didn’t explain the bathroom videos, said the prosecutor.

“There’s nothing that you’re surveilling when you’re staring straight at a toilet,” said Hamner. “There are no alligators coming out of the toilet. There are no snakes. There are no creatures from the sewers coming up to attack you. That is set up because he has a fetish.”

The women did not know they were filmed and are likely trying to protect Menon, Hamner said. “We understand it, but they are not the first victims that the state of Nevada has ever dealt with that protects an abuser.”

Holthus also said she had watched the videos and did not believe the women knew they were being filmed.

“It’s a bit paternalistic to assume, well, they say they’re not victims, but we know better,” said defense attorney Robert Draskovich.

He told Holthus she could keep Menon out of custody with conditions like a ban on internet access or phone monitoring and argued putting Menon in jail would make it difficult to prepare for trial.

Menon previously appeared before Holthus for an arraignment Wednesday. As Natasha Menon and Tamara Russell spoke to a reporter after that hearing, Russell held a sign that read: “I don’t need a white savior, Hamner.”

Hamner brought that sign up in his bail arguments, calling it “a racial shot” and “inappropriate.”

“She got her facts wrong,” he added, turning to look at Russell, who was seated in Holthus’ courtroom. “Not all saviors are white. I’m half African American. And it doesn’t matter what my color is. That’s not why we do our job.”

Menon will also face another charge related to child sexual abuse material, likely by next week, according to Hamner.

Draskovich hopes to consolidate the child sexual abuse material and bathroom filming cases. He is unsure whether his client will be able to afford the new bail, he said after court.

Attempt to disqualify judge

A separate hearing intended to determine whether a judge should be disqualified from overseeing his case ended without a decision Monday.

Menon’s attorneys filed a motion in March seeking to remove District Judge Ronald Israel from hearing the Strip detentions case, arguing that Israel’s daughter has accused him of abuse, which would make him subject to investigation by Metro and could lead him to avoid rulings unfavorable to police.

Metro has said it is not investigating the judge. Israel said in an affidavit he was “unaware of any facts that would even remotely create any bias.”

District Judge Mark Denton delayed the hearing on Israel after a lawyer for Metro, Matthew Christian, said he wanted to quash a subpoena served on the lieutenant of the department’s criminal intelligence section by defense attorney Dominic Gentile.

“I can have him here, but to me, it’s unduly burdensome,” Christian said.

Defense attorney Dominic Gentile requested an evidentiary hearing and said he intended to call the Metro lieutenant as one of his witnesses. He estimated the hearing would take about 30 minutes.

Denton scheduled an evidentiary hearing for April 22 and said he would also hear Christian’s motion to quash then. The lieutenant must come to court, he said.

The hearing was assigned to Denton after Chief Judge Jerry Wiese, who was supposed to hear the motion to disqualify under state law, said that he had a “longstanding personal and professional relationship with Judge Israel” and did not think he was the “appropriate judge.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.