Metro detective charged with misuse of police cars

Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

A Metro Police detective who in May 1996 sliced the throat of a vagrant and shot him in the head, sparking a cry for creation of what became the Citizens Review Board, was charged Friday with using police vehicles for personal use.

General Assignment Detective George Gregg Pease was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Clark County Justice Court with three counts of converting and controlling property without authorization regarding two unmarked police vehicles and a gasoline credit card.

A declaration of warrant and summons accompanying the theft complaint alleges that in fuel costs and depreciation of both vehicles, the police department suffered $1,860 in losses between Nov. 1, 2003, and June 3.

Pease, who also killed two other homeless men in the 1990s in the line of duty, is required to make a court appearance to answer the theft charges when a court date is set, Undersheriff Douglas Gillespie said Friday.

A felony arrest warrant has not been issued. However, a declaration filed along with the complaint requests that a warrant of arrest be issued for Pease.

Pease is still employed by the police department but has been on leave with pay since June 16, a day after the alleged theft was reported, Gillespie said.

"We became aware of the use of the vehicles in an off-duty capacity and began internal and criminal investigations," Gillespie said. "We also began looking into the use of the (Metro) gas card."

Metro general assignment detectives are allowed to use police vehicles only during work hours and only for police business, and cannot take Metro vehicles home unless it is approved by a designated sergeant, court documents filed with the criminal complaint said.

Pease, a 15-year veteran of the department, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Pease made headlines eight years ago when on May 14, 1996, during an altercation, he used his knife to slice the neck of vagrant Henry Rowe, a 50-year-old former casino floorman who had become homeless, then shot him at point-blank range in the forehead, killing him.

Rowe died in a wash off Industrial Road just south of Tropicana Avenue that had been his home for five years.

Police photos released during a Clark County coroner's inquest showed a gaping nine-inch knife wound, virtually ear to ear, on Rowe's neck. Pease testified that he carried a knife as a backup weapon, but that he slashed Rowe before shooting him with his 9mm gun after Rowe attacked him from behind.

The incident occurred after Pease said he went into the wash looking for Rowe about 10:30 p.m. to talk to him about a burglary.

A coroner's jury took less than an hour to find the then-31-year-old Pease was justified in his actions.

Pease previously had shot and killed two other unarmed homeless men. The first, in February 1991, was a homeless male prostitute. The other slaying took place in December 1992, when Pease shot a homeless man who was allegedly wielding a knife. Like Rowe, both men were shot in the head.

As was the case with Rowe, Pease's earlier killings were ruled justifiable homicides.

The Rowe incident drew outrage from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and, along with similar incidents, prompted Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, to call for the formation of the Citizens Review Board.

Today that volunteer panel reviews police investigations and incidents and fowards its findings to Metro's Internal Affairs Bureau.

The latest complaint against Pease alleges that without department permission he took home a 2001 Ford Taurus and a 1997 Chevrolet pickup and ran up the mileage using the vehicles for personal use.

Court records indicate that vehicles assigned to the general investigation detail used an average 350 to 500 miles a month, while the ones assigned to Pease were driven about 1,200 miles a month.

A check of the fuel card records between April 2 and May 3 found that "of the five fuel card transactions during this period, four were during Detective Pease's off shift hours when he should not be driving or have in his care, custody and control an LVMPD vehicle," according to court documents.

Metro suffered fuel cost losses of $423 and unlawful fuel purchase losses of $93, as well as depreciation losses on both vehicles of $1,344. Such crimes become felonies when the threshold of $250 in losses is crossed, the district attorney's office said.