Wiretaps used in extortion probe
GOP activist, others targeted by LV police
Las Vegas police conducted secret court-approved wiretaps during their investigation into an attempted extortion plot against Nevada Republican Assemblyman Chris Edwards, a police affidavit unsealed Friday disclosed.
One of the targets of the cellphone wiretaps was longtime Republican activist Tony Dane, who police allege was the central figure in the scheme but who has not been charged with a crime, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Another wiretap target was Republican Assemblyman Brent Jones of Las Vegas, who was suspected of helping fund Dane’s political operations.
With police permission, Edwards also secretly recorded face-to-face conversations in Las Vegas with Dane, Jones and other players.
The covert recordings, mostly made in January, provided police with an insider’s view of the political shenanigans occurring within the ranks of Nevada Assembly
No plans to recommend charges against legislators
Republicans in recent months.
Police released a statement Friday saying the Clark County district attorney’s office in the coming week will be notifying people whose phone calls were intercepted.
Those receiving a notice were not necessarily a target of the investigation, police said.
Dane, an anti-tax advocate, is alleged to have laid out the extortion plot in a recorded meeting with Edwards on Jan. 10 as part of a bid to win Edwards’ support for a move to replace moderate Republican Assembly Speaker John Hambrick of Las Vegas with Elko conservative John Ellison.
According to the affidavit, Dane said he was backed by a “person or persons who had a large amount of money and who wanted to install conservative Republicans” in office.
“Dane told Edwards that if he tells his employer that Edwards is ‘one of us,’ his employer will trust Dane and not fund a recall effort against Edwards,” the affidavit says.
It was unclear in the affidavit whether Dane, a longtime Nevada political consultant who operates a robo-calling business covering several states from his home near Washington, really had an employer. In state records, he listed all of his $245,000 in contributions to his CRC Political Action Committee last year as coming from either himself or his political consultancy, Dane & Associates.
In a Jan. 25 cellphone call, Dane is heard telling Jones he was avoiding sending him invoices because word was out that Republican Assembly Caucus members were giving him money to go after moderates willing to support some new taxes.
“So I don’t want any trace, even though there’s nothing illegal about it,” Dane said. “I don’t think it’s good for your career to do that. So um, so um, I don’t want no record of transactions between us.”
Dane said he would give Jones his wife’s bank account, which was under her maiden name, so Jones could deposit money there to “well, keep it clean.”
The 30-page affidavit, based on information provided by Las Vegas police Intelligence Detective William Schoen, was filed in Virginia by the state police there to obtain a search warrant for Dane’s Northern Virginia home in February.
The Las Vegas investigation is focusing on allegations of bribery, extortion, illegal wiretapping and the filing of false public documents with the secretary of state’s office involving Dane’s CRC PAC.
Police again said Friday that they do not plan to recommend charges against any state lawmakers. The investigation began in December after Edwards reported he was being pressured to change his vote for Assembly speaker. Republicans eventually installed Hambrick as speaker in February, following a contentious caucus fight.
According to the affidavit, the investigation took off after a Dec. 29, 2014, meeting between Edwards and Rob Lauer, a political activist close to Jones. Edwards secretly recorded the meeting with the knowledge of police, who also believed Lauer did the same. However, Lauer’s lawyer said his client did not record the meeting.
Before the meeting, an intermediary had delivered a message to Edwards from Lauer promising Edwards a $10,000 campaign donation, another $50,000 from a political action committee to retire his campaign debt and a chairmanship of a new veterans affairs committee — if he would vote against Hambrick. Edwards went to police. At the meeting with Lauer, Edwards was told he was the important swing vote, the affidavit says. But when Edwards pressed Lauer about the offer of cash he had received from the intermediary, Lauer said any such offer would be illegal. Lauer has publicly denied wrongdoing.
The scheme to extort Edwards began to take shape during that meeting, the affidavit alleges, with Dane saying he knew someone willing to sign an affidavit that Edwards had solicited a $10,000 bribe to vote against Hambrick. Dane did not identify the person, but detectives believed it was Lauer, the police affidavit states.
Dane is alleged to have told Edwards an affidavit about the alleged solicitation of a bribe was about to be filed with the secretary of state’s office, but he could “bury it” if Edwards voted the “right way.”
Dane also offered Edwards $40,000 toward his campaign debt and up to $150,000 for a future Assembly race, and promised to hold back political fliers attacking Edwards over his stance on taxes, according to the affidavit. He also told Edwards he would not reveal recordings of negative phone conversations between Edwards and constituents obtained through his robo-calling system.
Finally, Dane said he would get a widely conservative Nevada blogger to write positive things about Edwards.
“The affidavit really speaks for itself,” Edwards said in an interview Friday. “Obviously the investigation is continuing.”
David Otto, who represents Dane and Lauer, called the affidavit a “pack of lies” unlikely to result in criminal charges.
“That affidavit shows no evidence of any crime whatsoever,” he said. “All Metro did was interfere in the political process for their own benefit. Political deals of the kind discussed in the affidavit are made by every politician, every PAC, every large donor in every political jurisdiction in this country on a daily basis.”
Jones’ role in the effort to win over Edwards is further described in the affidavit.
On Jan. 18 Edwards, with police permission, secretly recorded a Las Vegas meeting with Jones arranged by Dane, the affidavit says.
Jones eventually admitted to investigators that he knew about the Lauer bribe affidavit, and he told Edwards that his political troubles within the GOP, including a possible recall, would go away if he started acting like a conservative.
“Tony told me, he said, you get this thing done with Chris and then he’s calling off the dogs. That’s what he told me,” Jones is quoted as saying in the affidavit.
Edwards responded, “So then if I don’t support Ellison, then the dogs are on.”
“They’re full on,” Jones replied. “Everything’s full force.” Review-Journal reporter Sandra Chereb contributed to this report. Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.