Taxi authority angered by leak of report

Wednesday, May 6, 1998 | 9:50 a.m.

The state Taxicab Authority launched an internal probe Tuesday into how a secret investigative report wound up in the hands of an outspoken agency critic.

The four-page report, which details an aborted 1996 investigation into a ticket scam at McCarran International Airport, was written by the Taxicab Authority's chief investigator, Bob Flaven.

Only Flaven and Taxicab Authority Administrator Bob Anselmo were said to have had copies of the confidential report, which was not meant for public consumption.

But former Desert Cab. Co. driver John Mirkovich, a taxi industry whistleblower who once cooperated in the bungled ticket probe, acknowledged Tuesday that he has obtained a copy. The SUN also has gotten one.

Anselmo opened the investigation into the leak after the SUN inquired about the Feb. 26, 1996 report.

"I want to know how it got out of this office," Anselmo said. "I feel violated that someone within this office would do this."

Anselmo said the report contains hearsay and uncorroborated allegations.

Mirkovich, on a crusade to expose alleged corruption within the Taxicab Authority since the collapse of the sting, said today that Anselmo appeared to be over-reacting to the leak.

"If they didn't do anything wrong, what's their fear," he said. "I will continue to do everything in my power to bring to light their illegal activities."

Mirkovich, who now works for Western Cab Co., sent a letter to Anselmo late last week, accusing Flaven of making false claims in the report.

The 46-year-old cab driver contends Flaven attributed statements to him that he never made.

Flaven denied making up any portion of the report, and he insisted tapes and transcripts of his interviews with Mirkovich will back him up.

"Everything we've done with Mr. Mirkovich is accurate and true, including that report," Flaven said.

Anselmo said he was in the process of reviewing the tapes and transcripts.

Both Anselmo and Flaven questioned Mirkovich's motivation for embarrassing the agency.

"Initially, I thought he was an honest, dedicated man trying to right a wrong," Anselmo said. "Now, I'm not so sure."

Flaven added: "When push comes to shove, Mr. Mirkovich is going to have to retract everything he's been saying about this agency."

Mirkovich has alleged the Taxicab Authority failed to properly investigate the airport ticket scam in 1996.

The investigation focused allegations that authority airport control officers were selling recycled toll tickets to cabbies at cut-rate prices.

Cabbies were supposed to purchase the tickets from legitimate airport vendors for $1.20 a piece. Instead, many were buying them on the black market at a much cheaper price.

It was estimated at the time that McCarran was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the scam.

In his internal report, Flaven said that Mirkovich had acknowledged buying black market tickets from a Desert Cab supervisor before he agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

Flaven also indicated that Mirkovich had told him a "short, black, bulky" former airport control officer was known to re-sell the tickets.

Mirkovich said in his letter that he never made that statement.

Flaven acknowledged that the investigation was unable to substantiate the allegations involving the black officer. The officer, however, later was asked to fired for unrelated reasons.

No criminal charges at all were filed in the investigation, which was aborted, according to Anselmo, after Mirkovich blew an undercover sting aimed at the airport control officers.

Mirkovich blames the sting's failure on the Taxicab Authority.

One Taxicab Authority officer directly involved in the scam was fired as a result of the investigation and another was suspended. The Desert Cab supervisor was demoted.

Since the probe, McCarran officials have taken over collecting toll tickets from the drivers.