Column Jeff German: Attorney general keeping the heat on Constable Nolen

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

MORE TROUBLES for Las Vegas Constable Bob Nolen.

Last month, Nolen was stung by a state Ethics Commission ruling that recommended his removal for allegedly misusing office resources.

Now, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has asked District Attorney Stewart Bell to take another look at allegations of fraudulent mileage claims by Nolen's top deputy, Doug Tharp.

"In light of the recent Ethics Commission ruling against Constable Nolen," Del Papa writes in a May 15 letter, "you may wish to review these allegations."

Bell was out of town and unavailable for comment.

But Assistant District Attorney Charles Thompson doesn't give much credence to the allegations, which were brought to light by Paul Coroneos, a deputy Nolen fired.

Thompson says he reviewed the accusations several weeks ago and "just couldn't get too excited about them."

Coroneos and other former deputies purged from Nolen's office led the charge against the constable at the Ethics Commission. They have vowed to fight for his removal from office.

Thompson says he'll look at the allegations again, but he hasn't changed his mind about their lack of merit.

He says Nolen told him he didn't believe Tharp's mileage reports were out of line and that's good enough for him.

"When the department head, who's an elected official, says to me, 'I don't think there's anything wrong here,' what am I supposed to do?" Thompson says.

Nolen, meanwhile, says he looked at such claims of wrongdoing before and "there was no indication of anybody padding anything."

Nolen says it's physically impossible to look over the shoulders of every deputy when they file their mileage reports.

"It's an honor system," he says.

Nolen says the latest concerns expressed by Del Papa are merely part of a continuing effort by "disgruntled employees" to embarrass the office.

Coroneos contends it's a simple case of fraud on the part of Nolen's top deputy, and he can prove it.

He has been dogging the attorney general's office the past several weeks since Thompson gave him the brush-off.

Some of Nolen's employees, meanwhile, are starting to feel intimidated and harassed by Nolen loyalists in the office.

Rick Yohner and Mike Counterman, two deputies who testified against Nolen at an Ethics Commission hearing earlier this year, remain uncomfortable in the current climate.

Both declined comment, but I'm told someone drew a penis on one of Yohner's daily work folders recently. Someone else spit into one of Counterman's folders.

Additionally, photos inside the squad room of the constable's office show someone has posted an article on the bulletin board of the recent drunken driving arrest of Ethics Commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch, one of Nolen's harshest critics.

Also posted is a piece of paper with the word, "loyalty" on it. Below are listed the synonyms, "constant, dependable, faithful, steady and true."

Nolen insists there has been no effort to intimidate Yohner and Counterman.

"These guys are being treated like everyone else," he says.

* The story of the mob's Las Vegas comeback is moving closer to being told.

Federal prosecutors have informed defense lawyers they're ready to turn over copies of 500 audio tapes in the racketeering probe of Los Angeles and Buffalo crime families.

It's a phenomenal number of court-approved recordings in an investigation that didn't really take off until last August.

And it means attorneys for the nine defendants charged in an April 17 racketeering indictment will be getting an earful in the coming months.

The tapes are sure to provide the listener with insight into the inner-workings of the mob in Las Vegas.

Two of the nine reputed underworld figures named in the indictment are charged with plotting the Jan. 6 murder of Chicago mob associate Herbie Blitzstein.

Lawmen believe Los Angeles and Buffalo mobsters murdered Blitzstein, once the right-hand man to the late Mafia kingpin Anthony Spilotro, to take over his loan-sharking and auto insurance fraud operations.