DA’s study of Aston case continues

Jeff Schweers

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:25 a.m.

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell may have a decision by the end of this week on whether to pursue criminal charges against Treasurer Mark Aston for alleged misuse of a professional organization's money.

"The first thing we have to decide is whether we believe the evidence gathered by the police is such that the matter should be pursued further," Bell said Monday.

The Metro Police Fraud Unit has concluded its investigation into $22,000 out of $35,000 Aston raised from various brokerage houses for the County Financial Officers Association's annual conference held last May in Mesquite.

Aston, a member and past president of CFOA, was asked by the outgoing president to host the conference. He collected the money, set up a checking account with Bank of America, and used the money to pay for the rooms, alcohol and prizes given out during the conference.

But investigators said Aston could only produce receipts for $17,000 of the amount he raised.

Aston, who has been back for three weeks after a self-imposed one-month leave of absence from his elected post, declined to comment on the case upon the advice of his attorney.

Metro spokesman Phil Roland said the case should be in the district attorney's hands by Wednesday "at the latest." Roland said Metro would not release any specifics on the case in order to maintain its integrity.

Once Metro submits the findings of its nearly two-month long investigation, Bell said, it should take his team of attorneys two days to determine whether to pursue criminal charges or drop the case.

"If in fact that decision made is favorable to the treasurer, that should be made known because he is entitled to have his name cleared," Bell said. "If not, the public is entitled to know what action is being taken."

The legal review team will include Assistant District Attorney Bill Koot, head of the major violators unit, and Assistant District Attorney Valerie Adair, who handles most paper fraud and grand jury cases, Bell said.

"We started using the grand jury for subpoena of records and may well follow through if we get to that point," Bell said.

About 500 of the 14,000 felony cases filed each year go to grand jury, Bell said. The grand jury is reserved for cases of great public interest in expediting, he said.

"Usually you can get a case in district court more quickly with the grand jury process," Bell said.

Bell said he has seen some of the Metro investigation materials, specifically an investigative report conducted by CFOA uncovering the unaccounted-for funds.

Bell would not elaborate on what was in the report, except that "it showed that Metro needed to look into the matter."

County Manager Dale Askew said the County Commission has no power to replace Aston, "unless he resigns his office or for some reason is unable to perform the functions of the office or is found guilty of a felony."