Mother avoids contempt for withholding son

An Illinois woman will not be held in contempt of court for refusing to send her 8-year-old son for unsupervised visitation with his father, a Clark County Family Court judge ruled Thursday.

"I think the court's been duped by the father," Judge Cheryl Moss said.

The father, Las Vegas resident Rob Bassett, had primary physical custody of his son until February, when both he and the boy, then 7, tested positive for methamphetamine.

As a result of those drug tests, Moss gave temporary custody of the boy to his mother, Kim Lewis-McClellan. Clark County prosecutors also filed two felony charges against Bassett: child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm and allowing a child to be present where the Uniform Controlled Substances Act is being violated.

At a hearing in June, Lewis-McClellan told Moss about the charges. The mother, who was representing herself at the time, also expressed her concern that Bassett could intimidate his son, a witness in the criminal case, if allowed to see him.

Nevertheless, Moss ruled that Bassett could spend 10 days with his son during each month of the boy's summer vacation. The judge, who said Bassett had passed four random drug tests in 10 weeks, scheduled the first visit to begin on June 15, Father's Day.

But Lewis-McClellan refused to send her son for the visit.

"I had to violate the order to get help," the mother later said.

She persuaded a Las Vegas justice of the peace and a Family Court hearing master to grant orders that temporarily prohibited Bassett from having contact with his son, and she told her story to the Review-Journal.

Attorney Fran Fine read the newspaper's article about the case in early July and offered to represent Lewis-McClellan for free.

"I couldn't stand to see a kid be abused," said Fine, a former Family Court judge whose ethics violations led to her removal from the bench in 1998.

Fine appeared with Lewis-McClellan on Thursday at a sealed hearing in Family Court. Moss said Bassett initially filed the matter as a paternity case, and Nevada law requires that all paternity cases be sealed.

Although the Review-Journal was not allowed to attend the hearing, the newspaper later obtained and reviewed a video of the proceeding.

At the hearing, Fine told Moss she took the case to protect the 8-year-old boy.

"He's a little boy who deserves a better shot, who has been found to have methamphetamine in his system, whose teeth are rotting out, who now has asthma and bronchial situations and has a terrible, terrible emotional situation," the lawyer said.

Fine opposed Bassett's motion to hold her client in contempt of court for withholding visitation and, in turn, asked Moss to hold Bassett in contempt.

The attorney said Bassett, who did not attend the hearing, has lied about his drug tests.

Bassett's lawyer, Michael Pandullo, appeared at the hearing and said he has had no contact with his client since July 24, when Moss most recently ordered the father to take a drug test. Pandullo, who also represents Bassett in the criminal matter, said he planned to withdraw from the Family Court case.

At a July 24 hearing, Moss ordered Bassett to leave immediately and give a hair sample for a drug test. Fine read the results to Moss on Thursday, noting that Bassett arrived for testing two hours after he left court.

"He refused to give a hair sample, and the urine sample was diluted," Fine said. She said a senior judge reviewed the case four days later and found that the drug test "had been tampered with and that he had failed it."

Fine said Bassett had shaved his body, as well as his son's.

"He had no hair on his head, that little boy, when he got tested, but they still were able to find 1300 nanograms in that little boy's urine," the lawyer said, raising her voice. "This man shouldn't be allowed to breathe my air."

Pandullo said Lewis-McClellan violated Moss' visitation order for four days before she obtained a temporary court order barring contact between Bassett and his son. If Moss does not hold the mother in contempt, the lawyer argued, then the judge should not hold the father in contempt.

Moss said she could not hold Lewis-McClellan in contempt after learning all the new information about Bassett.

"Strict enforcement of an order doesn't count when you're dealing with a child," the judge said.

Moss also expressed dismay when she learned from Fine that Child Protective Services had closed its file on the matter in March after turning its information over to the Clark County district attorney's office.

"I told CPS to monitor him until further order of the court, and they didn't even notify me that they were going to just close it out and stop monitoring him," the judge said.

Moss ruled that Lewis-McClellan will have sole physical and legal custody of her son until the custody trial, which is scheduled for March.

Moss held Bassett in contempt of court for failing to follow her orders regarding the drug testing and said he must pay $5,000 for Lewis-McClellan's legal fees.

"Believe me, judges do not like it when they've been duped," Moss said.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.