Las Vegas police officer who created ‘One Cop’s Journey’ hangs up holster

A much younger Kim Thomas thought he would be "a Lone Wolf McQuade," his term for the sort of supercop portrayed by martial arts expert Chuck Norris in a 1983 action film. Instead, despite his own impressive credentials in the martial arts, he became a financial crimes sleuth.

And he wrote "Vegas: One Cop's Journey," a gritty novel of police life.

Thomas, 53, won't officially retire from the Metropolitan Police Department until Wednesday , but he was honored this past week in a ceremony at the detective bureau. Deputy Chief Jim Owens recounted some of Thomas' accomplishments.

In 2000, Owens noted, Thomas organized "a cooperative task force with the United States Secret Service to answer the growing menace of rings of criminals using computer technology to counterfeit checks, ID cards, money. Operation Speedtrap went into action. Detective Thomas and his partner, Eric Heindel, arrested over 560 suspects from 2000 to 2004."

High-profile cases in which Thomas played a key role include those of:

■ Andrew Michael, who defrauded
CitiBank of at least $3.6 million, by leading the bank to issue corporate credit cards to himself and close relatives.

■ Twenty defendants arrested in a one-day "sting" for counterfeiting credit cards.

■ Another in which a suspect successfully impersonated the co-founder of Google to open credit accounts.

It was through Thomas' cases, said Owens, that the financial crimes sections saw its first forgery labs, the first counterfeit credit cards and identification cards, the first million-dollar identity theft.

"Kim's cases became an educational workshop for the section and the department," said Owens.

In a Las Vegas Review-Journal 2007 article, Thomas and Heindel explained the inspiration for Operation Speedtrap was their realization that the combination of methampehtamine trafficking and computer technology had spawned a new kind of multipurpose criminal.

"In the old days, criminals seemed to specialize," said Thomas. "Safecrackers weren't forgers, and forgers weren't burglars. But we found that today a forger often becomes a counterfeiter, and somebody may be doing burglaries to get information for identity fraud."

His most recent major case was a joint FBI/Las Vegas police investigation of an Armenian theft ring, which resulted in the recovery of $2.5 million stolen through the use of about 45,000 credit card numbers, illegally skimmed during their rightful owners' transactions at gasoline stations and other businesses.

Thomas was already 36 years old when he donned the badge -- an advanced age for a rookie. But having spent more than half his life in vigorous Japanese martial arts, he outperformed nearly all younger applicants on the physical.

His first assignments as a detective were burglary and larceny. He worked undercover identifying major "fences" who bought stolen goods from rings of thieves. While many detectives let patrol or SWAT officers pick up the suspects, Thomas broke the tradition by donning a raid jacket and personally serving search warrants.

Thomas recounted some adventures in "Vegas: One Cop's Journey" published in 2005 by Stephens Press, a sister company of the Review-Journal. (The $24.95 hardcover is available at local bookstores and in the Review-Journal lobby at 1111 W. Bonanza Road.) Thomas said he was trying to produce a realistic account of police work on the streets of Las Vegas rather than a personal autobiography, so the experiences of his narrator, Cam Madden, are not all Thomas'. Most did happen to some Las Vegas officer.

Thomas, who has a sixth-degree black belt in karate, estimates he was injured in fights about 15 times while on duty.

"If you fight five guys, you are going to get your ass kicked no matter how much you hurt them," he noted. "Also, the martial arts cops in the movies are wearing maybe a pistol and a badge case. But with what you really wear, a belt with a pistol and extra mags, a radio, handcuffs, and some kind of baton, executing a spinning wheel kick is something you couldn't ever do."

People fired guns toward him at least seven times. One of the nearest misses came as he was questioning two Los Angeles gang members one night.

"I heard a bullet go by. I blinked and the suspects were gone. Then one of the guys yelled from under the car. He said, 'Get down, fool. Somebody shooting at your ass!' " Thomas did.

Only once did Thomas fire at a human being. One Sunday in October 2002, a man fatally shot his estranged wife as she entered her church on Harmon Avenue near Maryland Parkway. Thomas, who lived nearby, was off duty, but heard shots. He grabbed badge and pistol, rushed to the scene, and spotted the killer fleeing in a vehicle. When the man pointed a gun at him, Thomas fired several times. The man was later found dead with several gunshot wounds, but the fatal one was self-inflicted.

As a young man, Thomas dropped out of the police academy, instead joining the Air Force. After completing his hitch, he reapplied and completed the training.

"The Air Force had taught me what I needed to know to become a successful officer," Thomas said.

That lesson? Don't be a lone wolf; work with the other folks.

"Law enforcement isn't about what you can do as an individual. It's about teamwork."

Contact A.D. Hopkins at adhopkins@review
journal.com or 702-383-0270.