Ex-coach accused of crime ties

James Yodice

Friday, April 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Desmond Moreland, a 30-year-old who has spent time in more than a dozen correctional facilities, once told a SUN reporter, "I am organized crime."

Some football players at Eldorado High School allege that he is organizing crime in the Clark County School District.

Moreland, an admitted career criminal who said he'd been locked away in 13 different penal institutions, caused "lives to be in danger," one player said.

About a dozen Sundevil players gathered Wednesday afternoon off campus after school to protest Moreland's continued involvement in the school's football program. They are worried that his presence could have violent repercussions for innocent people.

Moreland, who allegedly has organized crime ties in California and Nevada, was an unpaid volunteer assistant coach at Eldorado for the 1994 and 1995 seasons, according to the Clark County School District office. The players allege that Moreland has recruited students not just at Eldorado but other high schools in Las Vegas to assist him in illegal activities.

"We can straighten all this out," Moreland said Thursday evening. "The scope of this goes pretty deep in Las Vegas."

He would neither confirm nor deny he is currently involved in criminal activities.

Among the crimes Moreland is accused of committing by the players are money laundering and fraud. One player showed a SUN reporter negatives that allegedly were used to print and sell phony tickets to the Nov. 9 Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield heavyweight bout at the MGM Grand.

Another player said he had counted "millions" of dollars while helping Moreland.

"I don't really question anything he does," said the player, who wished to remain anonymous. "I know he's in the Mafia, and I don't know what he'll do to me. But he took care of me."

Moreland was dismissed by Eldorado last summer after a background check on him was completed, the school district office said.

If the criminal allegations are true, Moreland would have been required to distance himself from any secondary education school in the district. Five players told the SUN that Moreland was present at many practices during the 1996 season, even staying after sometimes to help.

Three parents of players told the SUN they knew Moreland had direct contact with the program even after his firing. Two parents said they saw Moreland on the sidelines last fall during games. Another said Moreland sat in on a meeting involving her son -- a meeting she said she should have been invited to, but wasn't.

"I just want my son back," she said. "He's not the same person anymore."

Unpaid volunteer assistant coaches in Clark County were not subject to background searches until August 1995, which may explain why Moreland was able to coach for two seasons before being terminated. Full-time employees in Clark County have been undergoing background checks since 1988, and recently the district decided volunteers ought to be similarly researched.

But Moreland contended he was never subjected to the routine finger-printing process (part of the district's policy for all full-time employees), or a background check. Moreland said the reason the school wanted him out was because Eldorado head football coach Ken Trujillo was threatened by Moreland's football knowledge.

"It wasn't about my dark background," Moreland contended. "They were fully aware of my background and so forth, but the reason they never messed around was because I knew the game."

Trujillo was unavailable for comment, and Eldorado Principal Tom Barbarini is refusing comment.

Eldorado players say they were told last week that Moreland had stashed guns underneath orange cones on the practice field last summer during workouts. None of the players said they saw the guns, but it was that information that precipitated the impromptu news conference Wednesday.

When asked about the gun allegation, Moreland said: "There was a very huge war going on with me and (student-athletes at the University of Southern California)."

He did not elaborate.

According to the five players who spoke to the SUN, most of the team was aware of Moreland's status. None of them said the entire team was aware.

"He was our coach, but what we didn't know was he was a big-time Mafia person in organized crime," said another player who didn't want his name published. "He put all of our lives in danger."

The players said they were disturbed because Eldorado administrators didn't do more to remove him.

"They never made an honest effort to get him out of here," one player said. "He was going to make the football program better, and that's all they cared about."

The office of Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said it had no record of an investigation regarding Moreland. In a written release, the school district said school police are investigating, "with assistance from other law enforcement agencies."