Man defends self in counterfeiting case

Bill Gang

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998 | 10:25 a.m.

After the prosecutor told a jury how William Earle Nelson was linked to a check-cashing scam involving counterfeit Clark County payroll checks, the defendant stood and charged that the evidence was "forged ... corrupted and contaminated."

Nelson is defending himself at his trial on scores of counts of possessing counterfeit checks, perhaps because attorneys generally are unwilling to make such accusations.

"I want to present evidence the way it should be," Nelson said Tuesday during opening statements at the trial in District Judge Jeff Sobel's courtroom.

He explained that money found in his hotel room that Deputy District Attorney David Barker had contended was the proceeds of illegal check cashing activities actually was the proceeds from an insurance settlement for injuries he suffered in an auto accident.

Barker told the jury that Nelson's fingerprint was recovered from a forged check, but Nelson countered that the fingerprint evidence was fabricated by police.

Nelson even disputed the traffic stop that resulted in police finding four Federal Express packages containing blank checks and templates for Clark County payroll checks.

But Metro Patrolman Steven Leyva testified Tuesday that Nelson was driving so erratically in February 1996 on a Meadows Village street, behind the Stratosphere Tower, that he almost hit the patrol car.

Leyva told how Nelson had failed a field sobriety test and was arrested on drunken driving charges before the checks were found, along with several stolen credit cards.

Barker said that Nelson had recruited street people to cash the checks in exchange for a portion of the proceeds.

Police have said the check scam appears to be part of a sophisticated multi-state operation with roots in Portland, Ore., or Seattle, Wash.

After Nelson's arrest, Metro forgery unit Sgt. Benjamin Kim said a search of his car revealed about 250 of what he described as "extremely good quality" counterfeit county checks that were ready to be filled out and cashed.

Kim said there was a word processor in the car to type in names and dollar amounts.

He said the checks were cashed at downtown and Strip casinos, which normally don't make a fuss about government checks.

"We believe Nelson was one of the main guys here," Kim said.

But he said the high quality of the checks indicates they likely were printed elsewhere.

"This was a professional job, not a Xerox job," Kim said, adding that the focus of Metro and the Secret Service is locating the source of the printing operation.

He said there are indications of similar operations in Ohio, Washington, California and several other states.

In Las Vegas, there were reports of at least 20 counterfeit checks -- each for about $1,000 -- being cashed.

The checks bear the forged signatures of Treasurer Mark Aston and Comptroller Therral Jackson. The signatures apparently were lifted from a real check and implanted on counterfeit checks using a stamp or a computer.

The check scam affected nearly 3,000 county employees who still received old-fashioned paychecks, rather than having their salaries directly deposited into their banks. For a period, they found it difficult to cash their checks without having their county IDs.