Police: Lieutenant’s wife forged check to buy drugs
bank on July 29 to ask about the missing check, which had been cashed in the amount of $1,000, according to the arrest report.
“She also noted the check was made out to a Heidi DeVaney, who is one of the administrative assistants for the nursing department at the West Charleston campus, and works in the same office as Rhodes,” according to the arrest report. The report also notes that DeVaney has keys to access the locked cabinets in which Rhodes kept her purse.
Officers went to the bank where the check was cashed on Aug. 2 and requested surveillance footage of the time when the check was cashed, according to the arrest report.
On Tuesday, police received still photos from the surveillance footage of the transaction, the arrest report said. “By comparing the still photo to DeVaney’s NV issued DMV driver license, I was able to positively identify the suspect in the bank still photo as Heidi DeVaney,” arresting officer Antonia Summerlin wrote in the arrest report.
After police determined DeVaney cashed the check, officers made contact with DeVaney at the West Charleston campus on Wednesday morning, according to the arrest report. Police took DeVaney into custody at 11:16 a.m., according to the arrest report.
After the arresting officers read DeVaney her Miranda rights, DeVaney “made a verbal confession to the above mentioned charges and stated that she had a pill/drug addiction and was in desperate need of cash,” the arrest report said. She told officers that she had a prior gambling problem and had been to rehab once before, the report said.
According to the arrest report, DeVaney informed the arresting officers that she had a pink pouch in her purse that contained drugs she said she bought from a dealer. “DeVaney said she wanted to hand that over to us before the Corrections Officers found it in her property,” the arrest report said.
In the pouch, police said they found three pills later determined to be hydrocodone — in a medication bottle with the label removed except for DeVaney’s name — as well as other drug paraphernalia. As a result, DeVaney also faces charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and petty larceny, according to the arrest report.
DeVaney is married to John C. DeVaney, a corrections lieutenant with the Henderson Police Department. According to Transparent Nevada, a site that monitors public employee salaries, John DeVaney earned a total salary and benefits of $219,455 in 2015.
A spokeswoman for the Henderson Police Department declined to comment Friday. Contact Christian Bertolaccini at cbertolaccini@ reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Follow @ bertolaccinic on Twitter.