District attorney won’t pursue investigation into allegations against Klemp

The Clark County district attorney’s office will not investigate the allegations of wrongdoing against an internal affairs investigator in the Clark County School District’s police department.

Five current and former police officers who filed a complaint against the investigator, Christopher Klemp, failed “to make a showing of any criminal violation(s)” or improper governmental actions on the part of Klemp, according to a letter sent Wednesday to a lawyer representing the officers.

However, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jessica Walsh wrote in the letter that Klemp’s comments in a secretly recorded December 2014 conversation, in which he repeatedly stated he would lie under oath, “are more than inappropriate” and should be handled within the school district.

“His statements should not go without review and subsequent punishment,” Walsh wrote.

Most of the allegations against Klemp stem from the December 2014 recording, which another officer recorded while working undercover for the FBI at the time to expose corruption within the school district’s police department.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal disclosed the contents of the tape in June as new concerns rose about a longstanding toxic culture at the police department that prompted at least four officers to cooperate with the FBI.

Adam Levine, an attorney for the 138-member school district police union, in June delivered a seven-page letter with hundreds of pages of support documents to District Attorney Steve Wolfson. The letter accused Klemp of crimes tied to his duties as the school police department’s lone internal affairs investigator.

“I’m not surprised that the (district attorney) found a way not to prosecute, but I am gratified that they did specifically identify that Detective Klemp engaged in misconduct that should be disciplined,” Levine said.

Klemp could not be reached for comment Friday.

A spokesman for the police department said an internal investigation into his behavior is ongoing.

“At the conclusion of our investigation, we will determine appropriate action,” Melinda Malone, spokeswoman for the school district, said in an email.

In its six-page letter, the district attorney’s office stated an investigation is “not warranted for multiple and various reasons.” It also discounted the claim that Klemp acted on a malicious, selfish or vindictive reason in his investigation of other offices, but noted Klemp’s disdain for certain officers he investigated.

“It is clear that he initiated actions, sometimes over-zealously, because he felt employees were deserving of the investigation for wrongdoing,” Walsh wrote.

In the December 2014 conversation, Klemp repeatedly stated he would lie under oath and threatened to “come after” another officer if he revealed the truth in the future. That threat did not violate any criminal statute, according to Walsh’s letter.

The letter also noted the Metropolitan Police Department reviewed some of the claims regarding Klemp but similarly found they neither “rise to the level of a criminal violation” or warrant a criminal investigation.

Regardless, Metro has helped train two new internal affairs detectives in the school district’s police department. The detectives and Metro “guaranteed” to conduct a full criminal investigation if the ongoing Klemp investigation reveals any alleged criminal activity, according to the letter.

“We’re going to wait and see whether or not they’re going to properly discipline him. He should be terminated,” Levine said.

Contact Neal Morton at nmorton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @nealtmorton.