Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.
A Metro Police 911 call-taker has been placed on paid leave after an internal investigation showed she violated several departmental policies, including running a criminal records check on Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief during the election campaign last spring.
After 35-year-old Cynthia Thomas improperly obtained and disseminated the information about Moncrief's 1994 DUI arrest, it became the subject of anti-Moncrief campaigning. Moncrief's opponent at the time was Michael McDonald, a former Metro officer who had worked with Thomas' husband, who is also a Metro officer.
Thomas was relieved of her duties on Thursday, police said.
Deputy Chief Mike Ault of Metro's professional standards office said Thomas also violated the department's truthfulness policy and engaged in conduct unbecoming to a Metro employee when she called police in July to say she saw Moncrief driving her car after drinking.
Thomas lied to officers who responded to the drunken driving call by saying she saw Moncrief consume three drinks at the Ice House, a downtown bar, Ault said. Moncrief passed a field sobriety test and was not arrested.
Thomas "caused (Moncrief) embarrassment and hardship," Ault said.
When asked why Thomas behaved this way, Ault said: "I have no idea. It could never be determined."
But Moncrief thinks she knows what motivated Thomas: The McDonald campaign.
McDonald has acknowledged he is friends with Thomas' husband.
Moncrief said she is pleased with the outcome of the probe.
"It needed to be investigated," she said. "Someone shouldn't be able to work in the police department ... and utilize information to get away with what she got away with."
"It shouldn't be allowed in any business, much less our police department," Moncrief said. "So I hope (the department action against Thomas) makes a statement to treat everyone fairly."
Thomas, a call-taker for about a year and a half, looked up Moncrief's criminal record using Metro's database on March 19, which was during the campaign, police officials said.
She did it "with no legitimate business reasons," Ault said.
Then on July 10, Thomas was at the Ice House at 650 S. Main St. and saw Moncrief there. Moncrief has said she had one drink at the bar before heading to Fellini's Italian Dining at 555 W. Charleston Blvd.
But Thomas called police and said "she saw her drinking and get into her car," Ault said. "She didn't see her drinking."
The officers asked Thomas "how many drinks she saw (Moncrief) have and (Thomas) said three," Ault said. "She did not see her take three alcoholic drinks."
Moncrief said when Thomas saw her at the Ice House, "she selected me and then followed me, which would have been difficult to do. I pulled this transcript of her calling 911 and she named me by name ... and described me in detail."
Minutes after arriving at Fellini's, several police officers approached her and asked her to step outside to take a field sobriety test, which she passed.
Undersheriff Doug Gillespie said investigators probably asked Thomas why she called police that night, but he said he hasn't reviewed the report because it's up to her supervisor to decide what, if any, discipline she should face.
Ault said that the fact that Thomas has been relieved of her duties, "indicates (her supervisors) are taking it seriously."
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