Conviction, prison sentence created time to reflect, reinvent for Herrera

One set depicts the children around the time he surrendered in January 2007. The other set depicts them — markedly older — around the time he was released, about 29 months later.

The former Clark County commissioner, incarcerated after his conviction in a high-profile corruption case, describes the separation from his children as the most difficult aspect of his time in custody. His wife, Emily, stood by him during his trial but divorced him while he was serving his prison sentence.

"Saying bye to my children and then being dropped off by Emily at the gate was absolutely devastating; but once I got there, I really looked at it as the first step in getting the whole experience behind me and working on myself," Herrera said during a recent interview.

A year after leaving the federal prison camp in Florence, Colo., Herrera is moving on with his life and showing remarkable resilience.

His meteoric rise in politics may have come to a grinding halt with his 2003 indictment and subsequent conviction, but he has wasted no time resurrecting and re­inventing himself since then.

In prison, Herrera worked as an administrative clerk and instructor in the education department, earning $18 to $30 a month. He took anger management and parenting classes. He voluntarily taught other classes. He played sports. He worked out and trimmed down. He earned his certification as a personal trainer.

"I thought if I was going to be there that I was going to use my time constructively," Herrera said.

Plenty of people have been willing to give him a second chance. The same charisma, good looks and interpersonal skills that helped him in politics — along with the contacts he made while working in state and local government — have given him a jump start on his new life.

He left prison on June 17, 2009. Five days later, he began working as a senior account executive for Wendoh Media Companies in Las Vegas.

Herrera, 37, recently gave notice at Wendoh and accepted two new jobs: one as director of community outreach and development for the Institute of Professional Careers, a business that trains dental assistants, and one as executive director for Project Sunshine of Nevada, a nonprofit organization that provides educational and recreational programs to children in Clark County’s child welfare system.

He and his girlfriend, Stephanie Wilson, are expecting a baby boy in early September.

Gard Jameson, chairman of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, is an adviser to the Project Sunshine board and supported Herrera’s selection as the organization’s new executive director. The two met years ago through their work with the National Conference for Community and Justice.

"I’ve always been impressed with Dario’s ability to make things happen," Jameson said.

Jameson, an associate pastor at Grace Community Church in Boulder City and a philosophy instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also expressed his belief that "forgiveness is always operative."

"It’s important to give people an opportunity to manifest their best qualities in the community, and I think Dario has done that in the past, and I think it’s important that the community give him the chance to do it once again," Jameson said.

Jameson knows all about Herrera’s past, including the federal trial that led to criminal convictions in 2006 for Herrera and another former member of the Clark County Commission, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey.

"Some people in his position would probably retreat, but I applaud his willingness to step into the community and try to make a bad situation better in child welfare," Jameson said.

Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey were found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud and extortion after jurors spent weeks hearing evidence about bribes the pair had accepted from topless club mogul Michael Galardi, who had entered into a plea deal that required him to testify against his co-defendants.

Former Clark County Commissioners Erin Kenny and Lance Malone also accepted plea bargains in the case.

Malone remains in prison, but all of Herrera’s other co-defendants have returned to society and are maintaining low profiles.

Herrera emerged from prison repentant and reflective. He has granted only a few interviews. He said he wanted to take the opportunity to offer a public apology.

"First and foremost, I’m deeply sorry for the hurt I caused my family and the community and for betraying the trust that people gave me," he said in his only interview for print media.

Herrera said he also wanted to express his gratitude for the treatment he has received since his release.

"People have been remarkably friendly and incredibly supportive," he said.

During a recent lunch at Florida Café, a Cuban restaurant near downtown Las Vegas, Herrera continued to play the part of a politician. He juggled phone calls and e-mails. He shook hands with acquaintances and chatted with them in Spanish.

His status as a felon prevents him from running for office again, but Herrera said he has no desire to seek a restoration of his rights and return to politics.

He admitted he still has an interest in politics, but from now on he intends to participate only as a "distant observer."

Nevertheless, he feels "the void of public service," a void he hopes his two new jobs will fill.

With the Institute of Professional Careers, he looks forward to helping students pursue meaningful jobs and eventually helping the school develop additional training programs.

Owner Sanjeeta Khurana said she was having dinner with some girlfriends at Town Square recently when she ran into Herrera and Wilson. Khurana and her husband, Michael Khanna, had befriended Herrera when he was a commissioner but had not had contact with him in years.

"We just really liked him and got along really well," she recalled.

At the restaurant, Khurana said, Herrera greeted her with a big smile and a hug.

"It was like we just picked up where we left off," she said.

Soon she and her husband were renewing their friendship with Herrera.

Khurana said they began reconnecting at the same time that she and her husband were making plans to expand their school. They realized that Herrera, who once worked as an administrator for the Community College of Southern Nevada, had the perfect skills to help them do it.

"He knows how to relate to people," Khurana said. "Not everyone can do that."

She has faith in Herrera, despite his criminal history.

"I think he made some bad choices, but people make bad choices sometimes," she said.

Khurana said Herrera probably has reached a place where "he has a lot to prove to a lot of people."

"I think he’s got a great future ahead of him, and I just hope he’s learned from his mistakes," she said.

Herrera, the son of Cuban immigrants, is the youngest of three children. He was 2 when his father abandoned the family in Miami.

He came to Las Vegas in 1991 to attend UNLV. At 23, he was elected to the Assembly. At 25, he became the youngest candidate to win a seat on the Clark County Commission.

In 2000, he found himself in the national spotlight when he spoke to delegates at the Democratic National Convention. In 2002, he lost a bid for Congress.

While Herrera had tremendous success in the early stages of his political career, he doesn’t want to blame his misdeeds on his young age.

"Obviously, I was smart enough to get elected," he said.

Herrera said he simply became "reckless."

"I achieved so much so fast that I lost perspective," he said. "Things came so easily that I forgot, I often forgot why I was elected in the first place."

During Herrera’s trial, jurors were told that he received oral sex from Galardi’s strippers during golf outings and topless club visits, in addition to cash bribes from Galardi.

They also were told that Herrera treated his mistress to a weekend at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif., and paid $4,000 cash to buy her a diamond bracelet.

Attorneys agreed not to tell the jury that Galardi had paid for $400 worth of lap dances for Herrera the night his first child was born.

Herrera testified during his trial and adamantly denied that he had accepted cash payments from Galardi. With his wife in the courtroom, he also tearfully recounted sexual encounters he had with Galardi’s strippers.

In the end, he failed to win over either the jury or the judge.

"It showed how arrogant he was, and he had that look like he didn’t do nothing wrong," one juror said after the trial concluded. "He wrote it off like, ‘I was young and that was then.’ "

Another juror said chills went up her spine every time the defense talked about Herrera’s character.

"Based on what I heard, it didn’t seem like he had much," she said.

In August 2006, Herrera stood before U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks and learned his fate. The judge handed Herrera a 50-month prison term.

"I have never before witnessed a witness spin so carefully the evidence," Hicks said. "This jury could see through that with the drop of a hat, but it went on and on and on."

Although Herrera’s lawyers argued that he changed his ways after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his wife’s church, Hicks pointed out that Herrera lied on the stand after the conversion.

"That testimony occurred after the turn, and it was definitely an attempt to obstruct justice," the judge said.

Herrera, who gave up his right to appeal, eventually succeeded in cutting some time off his sentence with good behavior. He spent a few months at a halfway house and on house arrest before he officially completed his sentence in December, when he began a three-year period of supervision. He continues to make payments on his $15,000 fine.

During a recent interview at a coffee and tea shop at Town Square, Herrera said his "heightened sense of arrogance" led to a state of self-denial and feelings of entitlement.

"My personal and professional conduct was wrong," he said. "My conduct during trial was wrong, and that’s something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life."

Herrera said the guilty verdicts didn’t surprise him, and actually brought him "an incredible sense of relief."

"To me, it was a wake-up call that you can’t live your life from a point of entitlement," he said.

Herrera said he has learned that "ultimately the truth is the truth and justice is justice."

"And honestly I’m grateful for that lesson," he said. "I’m grateful that I got it early in life."

Herrera stopped short of saying he lied on the witness stand.

"When you’re operating from a place of entitlement and arrogance like I was, you believe that what you’re saying is the truth," he said. "You trick yourself."

At the sentencing hearing, Hicks complimented Emily Herrera for a letter she had sent him. In the letter, she acknowledged her husband’s weaknesses but said he was committed to overcoming them.

"Over the course of the past several months, I have loved, hated, cherished and despised my husband," she wrote. "I have dreaded the thought of him going to prison and wished that time to come quicker. I have been so proud of how hard he has worked to earn my forgiveness and yet angry that he made choices that required it."

Emily Herrera, who now goes by the name Emily McCann, divorced her husband in 2008. They had been married nearly a decade.

Herrera said she regularly brought their children to visit him in prison, and the two remain "great friends." They share custody of their 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.

McCann, Herrera’s second wife, did not respond to requests for an interview.

"I’m incredibly grateful for the strength that she showed during the most difficult part of my life — as a mom, as a partner, as a friend," Herrera said.

Herrera said he joined the LDS church in 2002, and it played an important role in his life during the years that followed. He said he remains a member of the church but is no longer active.

After his release from prison, Herrera became reacquainted with Wilson, whose public relations and advertising company, Wicked Creative, was affiliated with Wendoh.

"We basically worked out of the same offices," Herrera said.

Herrera and Wilson first encountered each other when they showed up to be photographed for a 2001 Review-Journal article highlighting the "10 most beautiful people of Las Vegas." At the time, they were both 27.

Years later, Wilson’s company did some work for Herrera’s development company.

Herrera said the two have been dating for about nine months and are "thrilled" about Wilson’s pregnancy — her first. They live together, but Herrera wouldn’t answer questions about their future, saying he didn’t want to discuss his private life. Wilson declined to be interviewed for this story.

Herrera said "people are fair to be skeptical" when he says he has changed, but he no longer has to worry about opinion polls and votes.

"I’m not seeking validation from anyone," he said.

Herrera said he just wants to be a good father and a good member of the community — by his own standards.

He also knows that "doing the right thing is so much more important than saying the right thing." Ultimately, he said, that is how he hopes to be judged.

"I don’t regret anything, because I’m proud of who I am," he said. "I like who I am, much more than ever before in my life. And I can attribute that to all of my experiences — the good and the bad."

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.