More charges filed against Mack

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

Local attorney John Graves, as promised, has filed four additional criminal charges in Municipal Court against Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack.

Graves on Wednesday amended his original complaint on behalf of the Las Vegas Ethics Commission to include a total of five criminal charges against Mack, alleged to have intentionally violated city code.

Graves last week filed one criminal charge against Mack in Municipal Court relating to a Feb. 21, 2001, vote in which he elected to postpone a car dealership application by John Staluppi Jr. without disclosing the fact he owed money to a rival dealer.

The ethics board on Feb. 14 found Mack guilty of violating the code on five occasions, and Graves said then that he would amend the complaint to include the remaining charges.

Those charges accuse Mack of violating the city's ethics code when he voted on May 16, 2001, to postpone Staluppi's car dealership application and June 6, 2001, to deny the application without disclosing that he borrowed $57,000 from rival car dealer Joseph Scala. Mack also voted June 6, 2001, to approve a moratorium on new car dealerships in the northwest without disclosing the financial commitment to Scala.

Mack is scheduled to appear before Municipal Judge Bert Brown March 19 to enter a plea.