Obscene e-mail traced to deputy DA

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

A pornographic photograph sent by e-mail to dozens of Clark County employees originated from a deputy district attorney's computer.

The e-mail was then forwarded to a senior judge who passed it on to other county workers.

The sexually explicit photograph of a man and a woman was originally received Monday by Deputy District Attorney Dan Bowman, according to county sources close to the internal investigation.

When asked about the pornographic e-mail this morning, Bowman declined to comment.

"I don't have a comment about that, thank you," he said before hanging up the phone.

The e-mail was sent to Senior District Judge James Brennan, who is a contract judge with the Nevada Supreme Court, sources said. Brennan could not be reached for comment this morning.

The electronic photograph was then forwarded to Juvenile Hall and blind copies were inadvertently mailed to the Clark County Building Department.

Clark County Manager Dale Askew called the investigation a personnel matter. He said two or three employees have been identified as being involved and will be disciplined.

"I think we've investigated this as far as we can," Askew said. "We've purged references to this explicit material."

While Askew would not say what the employees' punishment would be, Clark County spokesman Doug Bradford said Monday that those involved likely would be suspended without pay.

It is against county policy to download or forward pornographic material. Bradford said the e-mail was unsolicited, but rather than deleting it, the employee forwarded it.

Askew said he is not sure how many county employees were involved, but said at one point the e-mail was supposed to target one or two people and the sender accidentally made blind copies that reached the building division.

"It seems like a whole bunch of people in that department received it," Askew said. "Needless to say employees were not happy receiving it because it came across their computer unsolicited. It's an unfortunate event."

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