Former court clerk pleads guilty to pocketing fines

Kim Smith

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

A former Goodsprings Justice Court clerk pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing almost $40,000 in traffic fines.

Las Vegas resident Alice Kukec, 55, could get anywhere from probation to five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine when sentenced by District Judge Mark Gibbons on Aug. 16, said Deputy District Attorney Valerie Adair.

She will also be ordered to pay $39,665 in restitution, Adair said.

Kukec's attorney, Jay "Chip" Siegel declined to comment after the hearing, saying he preferred to wait until his client's sentencing.

Authorities say Kukec began pocketing cash from traffic fines in October 1997 and continued the practice up through September 2000.

Once Kukec's actions were discovered, Justice Court employees spent months looking at every traffic citation and warrant issued during the length of Kukec's employment to check for any irregularities, said Justice of the Peace Dawn Haviland.

Kukec worked for the office, which is located in Jean, from 1994 until her termination in December 2000.

Haviland said anywhere from 400 to 800 traffic citations come through her office monthly so overtime was approved by the county's administrative services office so she and her staff could complete the task.

Other rural court employees also helped by taking on routine data in-putting tasks while her employees were tied up, she said.

Haviland said she was forced to quash numerous arrest warrants that had been issued for non-payment of fines because she had no way of knowing if the fines had been paid. She also had to forgive unpaid fines for the same reason.

The judge declined to speculate on the total dollar amount lost as a result.

"If it looked like there had been any action taken on the traffic citations (by the defendant), we gave the public the benefit of the doubt," Haviland said.

Haviland, who was appointed in 1999, said she asked auditors with Clark County to check out her books because she had "a sense" something wasn't right.

"I'd ask for specific documents or make certain requests and I wasn't getting the answers I wanted," Haviland said.

Haviland stressed that Kukec's actions pertained only to traffic cases. Criminal cases were not impacted and no criminal case warrants were quashed..

Haviland said it was a sad situation, but she wants everyone to know that her employees have "gone above and beyond the call of duty to protect the citizens from anything unjust."

Any resentment should be "directed toward the individual and not the system," Haviland said.