Reinstated cop wins support from judge

Cathy Scott

Tuesday, April 14, 1998 | 10:13 a.m.

District Court Judge Nancy Becker has ruled that the Civil Service Board acted properly in September 1997 when it ordered Metro Police to put former Officer William Stark back on the force.

Becker, however, ruled that the board, in this case, did not have the authority to impose employment conditions upon Stark's reinstatement. Michael Snyder, Metro's human resources director, said the board had ordered that Stark be placed on probation for 18 months, undergo psychological evaluation at his expense, and be supervised by a field-training officer.

Stark, who now works for the Nevada Department of Prisons, was fired by Sheriff Jerry Keller in July 1995 after Stark and Officer William Van Cleef were accused of breaking into a trailer home in search of Stark's department-issued badge and weapon. The Civil Service Board ruled that Stark should have been punished but not fired.

The case began in October 1993 when a fanny pack holding Stark's department badge and gun were stolen from a table in a bar where the officers had been drinking while off-duty.

The officers were directed to a trailer park, where they barged into a home, according to court records.

Van Cleef and Stark were later accused of terrorizing Randy Holder and his girlfriend, Cynthia Calli, in their mobile home. Holder and Calli said they were pushed and threatened as the officers demanded to know the whereabouts of the alleged thief, who they believed was Robert "Bam Bam" Bonata. Unbeknownst to the officers, Bonata had been arrested earlier by other Metro officers on suspicion of taking the items after he tried to enter a crime scene using the stolen badge.

In a court agreement, Stark pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor trespass charge for refusing to leave the mobile home when ordered to by the couple. Van Cleef pleaded guilty to coercion for pulling the phone out of the wall and no contest to a battery charge for pushing both victims.

The Civil Service Board and Metro must now act upon Becker's ruling, according to attorney Bill Terry, who represents Stark.

Van Cleef, who was also fired, has challenged his case before the Nevada Supreme Court, which has not yet made a ruling.