Grand jury transcripts show rift between Henderson councilwomen

Recently released grand jury testimony from the indictment of Henderson Councilwoman Carrie Cox is revealing more details of Cox’s alleged surreptitious recording of Councilwoman Monica Larson in January and the rift between them.

The 54-page transcript released Monday by District Court features testimony from Larson, as well as local real estate broker Michael Hiltz and land developer Richard Smith, each of whom said they were having a private conversation at Henderson City Hall on Jan. 9 when Cox emerged from a nearby black curtain and revealed to them she was recording.

Grand jury transcript for indictment of Henderson city councilwoman Carrie Cox by Casey Harrison

Among the exhibits presented at the hearings, witnesses and grand jurors were shown an over eight-minute-long recording that Chief Deputy District Attorney Colleen Baharav said was taken by Cox taken at about the same time multiple surveillance cameras inside the City Hall lobby allegedly showed Cox emerge from a curtain and confront Larson, Hiltz and Smith.

“(I was) Conversing with councilwoman (Larson) and pleasantries, congratulations on her win, at which point Carrie Cox came from behind a curtain and very angrily said I recorded all of this conversation and, naturally, held up her phone,” Smith told the grand jury. “I began to try to fall into a hole somewhere. I had no idea there was an issue between the two at that point in time.”

Cox was indicted Nov. 4 on one count of monitoring or attempting to monitor a private conversation and she is due in court Nov. 20, court records show. At the hearing, Chief District Judge Jerry Wiese granted an order barring Cox from contacting Larson except during council meetings.

Cox’s attorney, Josh Tomsheck, and Larson campaign spokesperson Elizabeth Trosper declined to comment. Larson didn’t respond to a request for comment. Cox on Wednesday night deferred comment to Tomsheck.

‘You need to leave my office’

Larson, who was sworn in on Jan. 7, said in her testimony she first met Cox by attending City Council meetings before she was elected, and was contacted by Cox after deciding to run for office.

But over time, Larson said, she came to the conclusion Cox wasn’t doing much to assist her.

“Over time she kept offering information and I later found out that wasn’t truthful at all,” Larson said, without elaborating. “She also offered financial assistance that wasn’t truthful. Just I kept catching her in many untruths.”

Larson also recounted a run-in with Cox the day Larson was sworn in. A City Council meeting was scheduled for later that day, and Larson said Cox “barged” into her office to ask how Larson was going to vote on an issue that wasn’t specified in the testimony.

“I said, ‘I’m not telling you because we’re not supposed to say how we are going to vote,’” Larson said. “I go, ‘You vote how you want and I’ll vote how I want.’ And she was really aggressive and said, ‘You need to tell me.’”

Larson continued: “I said, ‘You need to leave my office.’”

After the encounter with Cox on Jan. 9, Larson said she reported the incident to the Henderson Police Department, which eventually handed the case to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Integrity Squad. Larson added she attempted to request surveillance footage that may have captured the incident but never received it.

Cox was friends with Henderson’s police chief at the time, Larson said, without specifically naming then Chief Hollie Chadwick. Chadwick was f ired in March by City Manager Stephanie Garcia-Vause, who cited a difference in leadership styles and a lack of confidence that Chadwick could improve the department’s culture and operations.

“I had tried to request it (the video feed from City Hall) from the Police Department and that’s a whole nother thing because at the time the former police chief was her (Cox’s) friend that they went on vacations with,” Larson said.

“So when I tried to file, it was delayed and delayed and delayed and they told me wait until the chief comes back and see if she wants to file,” Larson said, according to the transcript.

‘A lot of disruptions’

Larson and others told Baharav their conversation initially was an exchanging of pleasantries, but the focus of the talk eventually pivoted to Cox.

“It was along the lines of I noticed a lot of disruptions” involving Cox, said Hiltz, whose wife Trish Nash lost to Cox by about 3,500 votes in the 2022 general election.

Although Larson, Hiltz and Smith all acknowledged the conversation took place in the lobby at City Hall, none of them were aware of Cox’s presence. They each testified that Cox was not permitted to eavesdrop on their conversation and that hey didn’t give Cox permission to record them, according to the transcript.

Baharav during her questioning conceded that simply hiding behind a curtain and eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation is not in itself a crime. But another witness, Metro detective Jackie McCrary, told the grand jury a crime is committed when a conversation is covertly recorded.

“After reviewing the video surveillance we established there was probable cause to believe this probably did happen where she covertly recorded a conversation she was not part of,” McCrary said of Cox.

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