Judge releases former school district workers convicted in elderly exploitation

A pair of former Clark County School District employees convicted of elderly abuse were released from jail Monday, pending their sentencing in two months.

Craig Ballew, a teacher who retired after 36 years, and his wife, Ivy Rasmussen, a guidance counselor who resigned from the school district last week, were initially taken into custody after being convicted earlier this month on more than a dozen conspiracy, theft and elderly exploitation charges.

District Judge Stefany Miley ordered Ballew, 70, and Rasmussen, 63, to house arrest before they are sentenced in January. The most serious charge against them, exploitation of an elderly person, carries a possible prison term of two to 10 years.

In requesting the couple’s release, defense lawyer Paul Gaudet told Miley that Ballew and Rasmussen care for two daughters — ages 19 and 20 — and their 14-month-old granddaughter.

Chief Deputy District Attorney J.P. Raman called the couple a flight risk and danger to the community.

“They have very little to lose,” he said. “I don’t think their babysitting services outweigh the public need to have them stand accountable for these actions.”

Prosecutors said Ballew, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for state Assembly in 2008, and Rasmussen bilked their longtime friend, Elliott Smith, out of more than $150,000 in about a year-and-a-half.

Ballew and Rasmussen brought Smith into their home after his wife, Sandra, was hospitalized.

The couple used money from Smith, who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, to make purchases small and large, from charges at Starbucks to checks made out for foreign cars, according to court records.

Smith’s relatives believe the couple took even more, saying that at least $100,000 in cash that Smith kept in a safe went missing. In the last years of his life, Smith told family members he was worth about $600,000, with $300,000 set aside for his wife’s medical bills. Smith did not learn about the theft until a few months before he died, broke, at age 84 in 2010.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker