Audit finds deficiencies in Las Vegas constable’s office

The Las Vegas Township Constable’s Office kept spotty financial records and had weak safeguards in place under then-Constable John Bonaventura, a Clark County audit determined after scrutinizing the operation during his waning days in office.

Among the findings: A safe that held cash didn’t keep a log of who accessed it, and four former constable employees still had active accounts to the office’s case database.

The audit also flagged the case management database program for including the option to charge fees for fingerprinting, storage and impound services. Constables can’t do those services under state law, so the programming shouldn’t have included those options. But fees for those services were never charged in the cases that the auditors examined.

The Metropolitan Police Department, which took over the constable’s office after Bonaventura’s term ended Jan. 4, has worked with the county on fixing the problems, a Metro captain said Friday. The county conducted the audit in preparation for the transition from Bonaventura to Metro and the results gave the new administration a blueprint of fixes to make as it retooled the office.

“We’re working hard to restore the public’s confidence in the office,” said Metro Capt. Richard Forbus, who oversees the constable’s office.

The audit isn’t tied to any law enforcement investigations of the office, which Metro raided in June with a search warrant in a wiretapping investigation.

The audit’s findings, publicly released this week, offer yet another picture — possibly a final one — of how the office operated under Bonaventura. The audit recommended sound, basic financial practices for the administration, including a monthly reconciling of the fees that the office collects and its bank accounts. In a look at the office’s June finances, the audit found differences of about $25,000 and $8,000 between two bank account balances and the office’s books.

Changes have been made to software and most of the issues raised are resolved, Forbus said.

County commissioners in February 2013 voted to abolish the constable’s office effective when Bonaventura’s only term ended after a host of controversies emerged under his watch. They included financial conflicts with the county, a reality show with foul-mouthed deputies, and embarrassing caught-on-tape conversations between Bonaventura and other officials.

The county in October reached a deal that gave Metro oversight of the abolished office’s responsibilities when Bonaventura’s term expired. The operation has 15 county support staff and about 20 deputies who do evictions and serve court papers. The office under Sheriff Joe Lombardo is called the “Ex-Officio Constable’s Office.”

Lombardo isn’t ex-officio constable of the entire county — only in Las Vegas Township. Ten other townships in the county have constables, who are elected officials with similar responsibilities.

At the height of Bonaventura’s political fame, Metro detectives raided the office with a search warrant in a wire-tapping probe in June after the Review-Journal obtained and reported on a recording of a telephone conversation between Bonaventura and County Commissioner Tom Collins. Collins had said he never gave permission to be recorded.

Bonaventura hasn’t been arrested or charged in connection with the probe.

Forbus noted that the county audit is a separate process that is not tied to any investigation.

Bonaventura might not have realized it at the time, but the audit found the office ended up giving Clark County $141,119.19 more than state law requires. Each month, the constable’s office must transfer its collected fees to the county, except those related to paying deputies.

“Had the LVTC maintained better documentation supporting the monthly amount transferred, this over-remittance of fees may have been prevented,” county audit director Angela Darragh wrote.

The constable’s office requires an ability to work with the county. County employees serve as support staff, and elected constables are in charge of hiring deputies and overseeing their finances.

The three larger constable operations in Clark County — Henderson, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas — submit expenses to the county for approval.

Bonaventura couldn’t be reached for comment.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.