Lutheran Social Services of Nevada closed its doors last month, stating on its website that “operations are temporarily paused” because of the government shutdown.
But according to former employees and board members, the 40-year-old nonprofit’s financial crisis was long in the making. They cite what they see as questionable practices, including payments to the current CEO’s wife and her business partner, for prompting their resignations more than a year ago.
“The sheer level of mismanagement means that no one within the organization can confidently account for how the funds were used,” Darryl Davis, briefly the nonprofit’s chief operating officer, wrote to the board chairman after resigning in September 2024.
The nonprofit, headquartered on Boulder Highway, operates a food pantry and provides housing assistance and other services. Taxpayer dollars in the form of government grants, along with private donations, fund its operations. It is loosely affiliated with the Lutheran Church, which does not provide direct oversight.
Davis sent an email to then-board Chairman Steve Orrico after Orrico requested a summary of his experience with the nonprofit. In his email, Davis projected that the organization would be unable to meet its payroll as soon as early 2025. Grants had been mismanaged, he stated, and he questioned payments made to CEO Tim Bedwell’s wife, Michele, and her business partner Adam Kent.
Davis’ summary, board emails and agency financial records, including payment records for Michele Bedwell and Kent, were obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal through a public records request. The news organization requested the emails of former board member Sarah Reeves Johnson, who worked for the lieutenant governor’s office and received board correspondence through her work email, making the correspondence a public record.
By all accounts, the board promoted Tim Bedwell in January 2024 to right the ship after an employee was accused of embezzling funds. At the time, the former North Las Vegas police lieutenant worked as a grant writer for the nonprofit, where Michele Bedwell served on the board of directors.
“We were less than broke. We were underwater when I took over,” Tim Bedwell said in a sit-down interview with the Review-Journal on Oct. 30.
Lutheran Social Services of Nevada reported gross revenues of $5.1 million and expenses of $4.7 million for the fiscal year ending in June 2024, according to its most recent tax filing, but Tim Bedwell’s wages as CEO were not listed. He called that an error and said it would be corrected.
The fragile finances made it all the more surprising to Davis and others to find that the nonprofit was making regular payments of thousands of dollars to companies owned by Michele Bedwell and Kent, who also was a board member, an unpaid position.
‘Something’s not right here’
Robert Newman, a board member for almost six years, resigned along with several other board members in September 2024. He grew concerned after his wife, who briefly worked in accounting for the organization, asked him if he knew that Michele Bedwell was being paid to perform marketing functions.
“The board was never aware of this,” Newman, the board’s finance committee chair, told the Review-Journal. He claimed, “We all felt like something’s not right here. There’s no contracts, and we don’t know exactly what services are being paid for.”
Tim Bedwell said he thought he had seen contracts for his wife and Kent, and he claimed that Newman had wanted his job. Newman, a bank executive, said he had never wanted or sought employment with the nonprofit.
In his summary to Orrico, Davis wrote that as he analyzed the nonprofit’s cash flow, he became aware of monthly payments of $8,500 apiece to Michele Bedwell and Kent.
When first asked by the Review-Journal about such payments, Tim Bedwell said he did not think his wife was being paid in 2024.
He said he did not think that either his wife or Kent had been receiving $8,500 payments, but the public records obtained by the Review-Journal show that they were.
“I have no part in the contracting. That was done by the board,” he said.
He said he believed that the board had known of the payments all along. If they didn’t, “then they’re silly and weren’t doing their job,” he said.
On Sept. 18, 2024, Orrico sent an email to the CEO stating that the board had become aware of certain payments to Michele Bedwell and Kent, and that it would be investigating. He also sent separate emails to Michele Bedwell and Kent, stating that the payments possibly violated conflict-of-interest provisions of the nonprofit’s bylaws. He later asked if they were considering resigning from the board.
Payment documentation shared among board members shows that over the five months preceding the board’s inquiry, the nonprofit paid Michele Bedwell at least $22,150 for marketing and development through her firm Mediak. She and Kent were managing members, according to secretary of state’s office records. Michele Bedwell’s company Hi-Tek Media was paid an additional $15,000 during that period, while Kent’s business Invictus Consulting received at least $27,000.
Tim Bedwell said his wife and Kent had first worked under his predecessor. Board records show Kent receiving two payments of $5,000 apiece in late 2023, with one payment described as for staff training. They did not show earlier payments to Michele Bedwell.
By July 2024, payments to Hi-Tek Media had increased to $8,500, as had payments to Invictus Consulting. In an email to staff that month, Tim Bedwell said he had named Kent his chief of staff.
The sheer level of mismanagement means that no one within the organization can confidently account for how the funds were used.
In his summary, Davis wrote that he was alarmed to discover that an additional $8,000 was being processed for Michele Bedwell as a 20 percent fundraising commission. Her invoice included the names of companies but did not specify the amount each had contributed or provide supporting documentation, public records show. The only contribution Davis could find for one of the companies listed was for donated peanut butter.
“I want to be clear that I was still in the early stages of investigating these matters and may not have all the facts,” Davis wrote. “I do not wish to imply that these donations are not legitimate, as I have not yet been able to verify them fully.”
He recommended to Linda Downing — the accounting controller and Michele Bedwell’s sister — that the commission not be paid until the receipt of funds could be verified.
Tim Bedwell told the Review-Journal that his wife never received a commission on donations. Michele Bedwell did not answer a question about commissions in an email exchange with the news organization. Tim Bedwell said his wife handled social media for the nonprofit and, along with Kent, secured large corporate donations and other funds.
‘Trajectory toward failure’
As board members and contractors, Michele Bedwell and Kent had significant influence within the organization, according to former employees. Associates described them as streetwise.
Michele Bedwell referred to herself as “the throat-punch queen,” Davis said in an interview.
Jacquie Newman, who worked in accounting for three months before resigning, said that from what she observed, Tim Bedwell was the voice of the operation, and his wife and Kent were the brains.
Kent was seen around the office about once a week, according to several former employees who were unclear about what duties he performed. One recalled a training session on how to answer phones, though the office had no apparent land lines. Another said he provided one-on-one job coaching.
Davis began working for Lutheran Social Services of Nevada after a co-founder of his software business met Kent at a business networking event.
The meeting resulted in Davis and his partner providing software and technology support for the nonprofit, which quickly led to Davis stepping into the COO position in July 2024. 
Although Davis considered Michele Bedwell and Kent to be friends, he wrote in his summary that he came to see a troubling side and could no longer be associated with them.
After calculating that a fundraiser Michele Bedwell was organizing would lose money, he asked her in a managers meeting to consult with him before making future promises on behalf of the nonprofit.
She refused, telling him he could not speak to her like that. He quit on the spot.
“Upon being shut down by Michele in the meeting, I realized I was powerless against her as a board member and contractor,” he wrote. “Without the ability to bring in new cash flow, and with Tim dismissing my financial concerns, it became clear that LSSN was on a trajectory toward failure.”
Kent tried to calm the situation, asking him to sit down and talk the matter over, but Davis did not want to speak to him.
“My frustration stemmed from seeing Adam collect $8,500 per month while barely showing up to work ever,” Davis wrote. “This is a growing concern because my honest guess is that Adam has only worked 5 hours total in the last 3 weeks and we have seen no progress or deliverables from him.”
Kent, who is currently the nonprofit’s COO, said he would provide a written response to questions for this story but did not do so.
Jacquie Newman said invoices from Michele Bedwell and Adam Kent came across her desk without explanation, and she asked to see their contracts.
“I like to know what I’m paying for,” she told the Review-Journal. “I need it in writing so that I can cover my ass.”
But no contract or agreement was ever presented, and she refused to cut their checks. She even told Michele Bedwell, “This seems shady,” she recalled.
We were less than broke. We were underwater when I took over.
“They would start strong-arming Linda (Downing) into doing it after I’d left for the day,” she said.
Downing, who no longer works for the organization and has moved out of state, could not be reached for comment.
The nonprofit was meeting payroll by transferring money from a line of credit intended for construction and was thousands of dollars behind on payments for hot meals for seniors, Jacquie Newman said.
Personal financial issues
At the time, the Bedwells were having financial issues of their own, hidden behind a seemingly luxurious lifestyle.
They lived at a residence described by real estate websites as a nine-bedroom “entertainer’s mansion,” complete with a “backyard oasis” that includes a swim-up bar, cascading waterfall and koi pond.
The couple drove luxury cars, cultivating an image that struck some associates as at odds with the nonprofit’s mission of serving the poor.
Yet Tim Bedwell’s wages were being garnished to pay off more than $27,000 in credit card debt to American Express, according to filings in Clark County District Court. 
The court entered a default judgment against him in October 2022. The judgment has been paid in full, according to a court filing from June of this year.
Meanwhile, American Express sued Michele Bedwell in July 2024 over more than $38,000 in unpaid credit card debt. In March, the court entered a default judgment against her.
Then in August, JPMorgan Chase Bank sued her over nonpayment of $34,500 in credit account debt. The bank last month filed a notice of intent to take default, according to court records.
Asked about the lawsuits, Tim Bedwell said, “Sometimes people disagree over their financial situations, and sometimes that’s handled in court.” Michele Bedwell did not comment on the lawsuits.
Tim Bedwell said his salary from the nonprofit is $210,000 a year and that he receives no benefits. As a retired police officer, he receives a government pension. In fiscal 2025, he collected $87,500 from the state Public Employees Retirement System, according to system communications director Walter Zeron.
A familiar face in the community as a former police spokesperson, Tim Bedwell appears on television ads for an injury law firm. He ran unsuccessfully for Clark County sheriff in 2018.
CEO shocked by the ‘coup’
In September 2024, the board called an emergency meeting to discuss members’ concerns, according to emails in the public records. But the board was divided on what action, if any, to take in regard to the Bedwells and Kent. Board member Carrie Cox, who has credited the Bedwells and Kent with helping her get elected to the Henderson City Council, did not respond to a request for comment.
Cox, the current board chairwoman, was indicted this month on a felony charge after authorities accused her of hiding behind a curtain to illegally record a conversation involving a fellow councilwoman.
After last year’s emergency meeting, several board members resigned, including Robert Newman, Johnson and Orrico.
Robert Newman wrote in his resignation letter, “I have not accurately been informed and have been kept in the dark around financial issues with LSSN and provided with inaccurate and incomplete information when requesting financial reporting as the Finance Committee Chair. Because of this, I am unwilling to continue serving on this board.”
In a recent email to the Review-Journal, Johnson wrote, “In September 2024, I expressed my concerns about potential waste and misuse of donor and taxpayer dollars. I chose to resign from the board after it became clear those concerns weren’t going to be addressed. It’s deeply disappointing and heartbreaking to see an organization with a mission as critical as Lutheran Social Services put greed over the needs of struggling people in our community.”
Orrico declined to comment.
Some staff members were dismayed when board members quit rather than continue the fight. In addition to Davis, three staff directors resigned.
“I was shocked when they had their coup,” Tim Bedwell said. “I was shocked some of the individuals that were involved. But to be fair, everyone knew we had reached the point where most of those director jobs were going to go away.”
When he took over as CEO, the nonprofit had 33 employees, he said. Prior to the federal shutdown, it had 13. Now only he and Kent are left, the other employees furloughed. Tim Bedwell said he had not been paid in three pay periods.
‘Pattern of poor performance’
By September 2024, Tim Bedwell said, the loss of grants meant the organization would need to “shed a lot of leadership.”
He specifically referenced the loss of a pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act grant administered by the city of Las Vegas, and a SNAP Education grant administered by the state.
The SNAP Education grant, funding nutritional and physical education programs for people in the federal government food program, ended in September 2024, according to Macy Helm, who coordinates nutrition education programs for the University of Nevada, Reno Extension.
Tim Bedwell said the organization lost the grant because an employee in the previous administration embezzled funds.
A performance evaluation by the Nevada Division of Social Services states that in fiscal 2023, a member of the nonprofit falsified documents and committed fraud. It references a police report being filed.
The evaluation also states that despite being given the next fiscal year to improve, Lutheran Social Services of Nevada failed to rectify deficiencies. Between October 2023 and May 2024, according to the evaluation, the organization attempted to charge non-allowable expenses, for example. For fiscal 2025, it requested a doubling of its funding without explanation, the evaluation states. The grant was denied.
“LSSN has demonstrated a pattern of poor performance across multiple NV SNAP-Ed components, including project deliverables, financial management, compliance with reporting requirements, stakeholder engagement, and outcomes,” the evaluation states.
“Despite several attempts to provide support and technical assistance to address these issues, LSSN has failed to reach out or make significant improvements.”
The nonprofit had a separate $132,200 SNAP Outreach grant for October 2024 through September of this year, according to Kristle Muessle, a public information officer for the Nevada Department of Human Services. The nonprofit requested reimbursement under the grant but did not provide the “documentation needed to support the request,” she wrote in an email.
The state Division of Social Services worked with the nonprofit to correct the paperwork “but was unable to resolve the issue,” she stated. The money was not paid.
The city of Las Vegas suspended its American Rescue Plan Act grant in November 2023 — prior to Tim Bedwell becoming CEO — for not meeting financial reporting requirements, according to city spokesperson Jace Radke. The nonprofit received $130,600 under the grant, which was up to $500,000. It filed a corrective action plan in April 2024, and the grant ended that June.
$10 million grant
In August 2024, the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority awarded the nonprofit a nine-year, $10 million federal contract to provide case workers for the residents of Marble Manor, a 235-unit public housing complex. The authority is razing the complex and relocating tenants in phases.
When asked about the contract, Tim Bedwell said the nonprofit did not have it. When pressed, he referenced how federal government contracts can be ended for convenience, which means for reasons unrelated to performance. He said the nonprofit “absolutely” was meeting the contract’s standards.
Lewis Jordan, the authority’s executive director, did not respond to phone calls requesting comment. Attorney Mahogany Turfley — whose firm, Parker Nelson and Associates, represents the authority — wrote in an email that the public housing agency had no comment. A notice of termination for convenience, obtained from the housing authority, states that the effective date of the contract’s termination was Sept. 30.
LSSN has demonstrated a pattern of poor performance across multiple NV SNAP-Ed components, including project deliverables, financial management, compliance with reporting requirements, stakeholder engagement, and outcomes.
From December until mid-October of this year, the authority paid Lutheran Social Services of Nevada $594,500, according to documents obtained through a public records request.
After the resignations in September 2024, the $8,500 payments continued, an agency transaction report shows. By the end of the year, Michele Bedwell’s Hi-Tek Media received four more payments of $8,500 each — $34,000 total. Kent’s firm received two payments totaling $17,000.
In an email, Michele Bedwell said she has been paid just $2,500 in the past five months. She said that she, her husband and Kent “have taken on multiple roles to keep LSSN moving forward.”
She said she has taken on new responsibilities in addition to “all marketing, events, PR and fundraising.”
Michele Bedwell, who no longer is on the board, emphasized that she is a contractor and not an employee.
“I do not work for Tim or Adam; my accountability has always been to the board,” she wrote.
She said she was in the process of coordinating with a corporate sponsor for the nonprofit to distribute gourmet meals at Thanksgiving to families in need.
Program loss ‘heartbreaking’
A priority of the nonprofit has been to feed the hungry, operating food pantries where needy people can select groceries to take home and serving sit-down meals for seniors.
Before pausing operations, it offered these programs at its Boulder Highway headquarters as well as at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church on Cheyenne Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard in the northwest Las Vegas Valley.
The community is feeling the loss, said the Rev. Jeremy Nausin, pastor of Holy Spirit. Most of the people fed by the programs offered at the church were not from the congregation of about 200 people. The programs fed seniors who had outlived their retirement funds and single parents living with their children in their rundown vehicles, among others, he said.
The programs offered not just sustenance but a sense of community. He described their loss as ‘heartbreaking.’ 
Nausin said he was concerned about the turmoil at the nonprofit, and for a period of months the church withheld its donations. However, with the need for the food programs so great, it chose to continue the partnership.
But he said “some of the practices have eroded the trust of the ministry.” There needs to be accountability on the part of the nonprofit’s leadership, he said.
The Rev. Marta Poling Schmitt, who rejoined the nonprofit’s board of directors in May after an absence of eight years, said she remains confident in Tim Bedwell. She said she trusts the analysis of the organization’s chief financial officer and of a CPA firm completing an audit of the most recent fiscal year.
She said she could not speak to the “kerfuffle” that preceded her current term and had not seen management issues since her return. She did not have information on any payments to Michele Bedwell, other than a $2,500 payment referenced at a board meeting, she said.
She stands by the organization and remains devoted to its mission. When she was board president years ago, the nonprofit obtained a grant allowing the organization to launch a capital campaign to build the headquarters on Boulder Highway. She personally contributed $100,000 to that campaign and will continue to donate to the nonprofit, she said.
“I believe very strongly that the Christian gospel compels us to serve those in need, especially the hungry,” she said.
The board’s other members did not respond to interview requests.
Jon Paul, who serves as the nonprofit’s part-time CFO, said he provides all financial information directly to the board of directors.
“On my watch, there’s full transparency,” said Paul, a contractor for the nonprofit since late February.
The organization had to suspend operations after payroll tax credits from the IRS were delayed by the federal shutdown, he said. The credits amount to a quarter of a million dollars.
He said the stream of donations is growing, which will allow the nonprofit to resume operations, possibly soon. The agency is lean now and will be operating under “the most solid financial model we’ve had,” he said.
The government shutdown ended Nov. 13. Around this date, a message from Tim Bedwell was added to the nonprofit’s website stating that Lutheran Social Services of Nevada is open and accepting applications for its holiday assistance programs. Its pantry and senior meals programs remain on hold.
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.