LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A nasty electronic mail chain between a Henderson metropolis worker and a deputy police chief reveals an influence wrestle on the prime — and out of doors — of the chain of command of the police division, shining a lightweight on a rarely-seen pressure riddled with dysfunction. These emails finally resulted within the scrubbing of each an inside affairs investigation and its associated recordsdata.
The emails, obtained by the 8 Information Now Investigators, element a request by then-Deputy Chief Jonathan Boucher and Assistant Metropolis Supervisor Lisa Corrado concerning the validity of Boucher’s initiation of an inside affairs grievance. Boucher alleged that an officer, the top of the police union on the time, lied to the state legislature throughout testimony in Could. Each Boucher and the officer, Shawn Thibeault, retired in 2025.
Thibeault testified with regard to Senate Invoice 279 (SB 279) sponsored by Democratic State Senator Julie Pazina. The aim of the invoice, in keeping with testimony, was to tighten loopholes in an already-existing legislation, NRS 289, higher generally known as the Peace Officers’ Invoice of Rights. That statute supplies law enforcement officials with sure protections associated to, amongst different issues, inside affairs investigations.
The statute, for instance, says that inside affairs should present a police officer 48 hours’ discover earlier than an interview. And, the statute says, that discover should embrace all matters to be mentioned on the interview. If inside affairs broaches a separate and even ancillary matter, the statute says the officer is entitled to a brand new 48-hour discover.
“Henderson felt that that did not need to be very detailed and was very non-specific in what they explained to the officers as the reasons for them coming in,” mentioned Andrew Regenbaum, government director of the Nevada Affiliation of Public Security Officers.
Regenbaum, on behalf of the Henderson Police Officers Affiliation, testified at each the Senate and Meeting through the legislature’s session earlier this yr. With him at one session, after which on the telephone on the subsequent session, was Thibeault, serving then as HPOA president.
On the first session, Thibeault defined how HPD — in his expertise — skirted the necessities of NRS 289.
“I personally had to barge in on and stop an I.A. Investigation due to the department not providing the proper 48-hour notice,” Thibeault mentioned. He testified on the subsequent session over the phone in Could, ostensibly saying the identical factor.
Thibeault’s testimony, in keeping with emails from not lengthy after the Could listening to, generated a grievance from a now-retired Henderson police captain, which finally made its method to an additionally now-retired Deputy Chief, Jonathan Boucher.
Boucher wished inside affairs to research Thibeault’s assertion that the interview into which he barged was inappropriately seen, basically saying Thibeault lied to the legislature.
However Henderson’s assistant metropolis supervisor, Lisa Corrado, put a cease to that, emailing the then-acting police chief and instructing him to “close the case without investigating any further.” She additionally mentioned, “This IA matter should not be maintained in HPOA IA files.”
That led to an electronic mail alternate with Boucher, who was finally placed on depart on the day Reggie Rader, Henderson’s new police chief, was launched to the general public.
New Henderson police chief axes 2 longtime command employees
Boucher, as soon as the interior affairs investigation was placed on ice, then emailed the chairs of the legislative committees earlier than which Thibeault testified, saying the testimony was “factually untrue” and “misleading.”
Regenbaum, who was subsequent to Thibeault for the testimony, advised the 8 Information Now Investigators Thibeault didn’t lie and there was no grey space.
“He recited a completely truthful story,” Regenbaum mentioned.
Boucher, in an electronic mail to Corrado objecting to her determination to abort any inside affairs investigation into Thibeault, mentioned, “these decisions … violate our internal accountability mechanisms by concealing both illegal conduct and misconduct of a departmental employee in an official proceeding.”
Corrado basically argued in her emails that Thibeault was conducting official union enterprise, a degree with which Regenbaum agrees.
email-chainDownload
“There was a problem that she identified that was going to be a big one, and I don’t think it’s outside of her purview to stop that from happening before it becomes worse,” Regenbaum mentioned.”
In the end, Corrado scolded Boucher for emailing the legislators.
“I instructed you that all communication with legislators must go through your chain of command,” Corrado wrote.
Not one of the legislators Boucher emailed responded to the 8 Information Now Investigators’ request for remark and inquiry into whether or not Boucher’s complaints prompted any motion or investigation. However a supply near committee management confirmed that, “At this time, the letter from HPD has not prompted any action.”
In response to a request for an on-camera interview with Corrado or a remark from the town with regard to the e-mail alternate between Boucher and Corrado, a metropolis spokesman wrote the next assertion. In its entirety, it reads:
“Public safety is a shared responsibility by the City Manager and all Assistant City Managers and their respective departments. Lisa Corrado is currently overseeing the Police Department. As our new Police Chief assumes his role, his focus is on accountability, adherence to policy and procedures, strengthening training, and setting clear expectations that are rooted in integrity and professionalism, and build public trust.”
Republican Governor Joe Lombardo signed SB 179 into legislation this spring.
