Nye County DA Beckett arrested

Embattled Nye County District Attorney Robert Beckett was arrested Wednesday morning on fraud and embezzlement charges in connection with a bank account his office managed for more than 13 years.

"This is in reference to the bad check fund," said Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo, whose officers in April seized a computer and other items related to the Nevada State Bank account.

Beckett, who was arrested without incident, has said the investigation was the result of political enemies.

"They don't have their facts straight," Beckett said Wednesday evening. "They misinterpreted the law, and then they took exceedingly inappropriate action."

Beckett, who was arrested in a bizarre DUI incident in California more than a year ago, seeks his fifth term and is in a heated race that includes Ron Kent, his former chief civil deputy; disgraced former Clark County Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio; and Brian Kunzi, a senior deputy attorney general.

Beckett was released by midafternoon on his own recognizance. Because he is the district attorney, a special prosecutor will be named to handle the case, DeMeo said.

DeMeo denied the heated election was behind the arrest.

"This wasn't motivated by politics," he said.

Beckett has been charged with more than 40 counts, including 20 counts of fraudulent appropriation of property, 20 counts of misconduct of a public officer, one count of malfeasance of office and one count of embezzlement.

DeMeo said he was unsure how much money is involved because the account "was rapidly depleted" and had about $15,000 left.

"One thing that was interesting is we found evidence a car payment was made for a family friend," DeMeo said.

"That's not true," Beckett said. "I never used that account to pay off anything for family or friends."

Beckett said the funds were given to charities, but DeMeo said it doesn't appear the money was used for "altruism."

The bad check fund had never been audited in 13 years, Beckett said.

DeMeo was unsure whether that was accurate, but he said Nevada law spells out that such accounts must be audited by county treasurers.

Beckett reportedly had skipped several meetings requested by Nye County Treasurer Gary Budahl and Dan McArthur, the county's independent auditor.

The bad check fund receives its money from people charged with writing bad checks. The money is supposed to be used to reimburse victims of bad checks. Bad-check writers also must pay fees on top of their reimbursements.

DeMeo said he did not know how many people were fully reimbursed.

Beckett last week said the fund was being phased out because "people aren't writing bad checks anymore."

He said he would call a news conference "once I sort through this mess. Until then, I can't say anything else."

Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal. com or 702-254-5512.