Woman dupes state: Attorney general’s top investigator fired

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state attorney general's chief investigator, who helped build the ethics case against Controller Kathy Augustine, has been fired, it was learned today.

Hired under former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, the investigator apparently never had a background check when she was hired, but a recent check found that she had, under another name, pleaded no contest to a felony in the early 1990s in California.

The former investigator, Linda Honey, could not be reached for comment. But sources inside the attorney general's office said a background investigation revealed she had pleaded to a felony, writing bad checks, in California before becoming a state employee in Nevada.

She had also been arrested on other charges, mostly misdemeanors, including drunken driving, embezzlement and theft. Because the court records were sealed, the disposition of those cases was immediately unclear.

The felony charge was reduced and dismissed after she served a jail term, according to court records. Attorney General Brian Sandoval said, "As of last Monday, she is no longer in the office." He declined further comment, saying it was a personnel matter. Sources in the attorney general's office said she was fired because she did not disclose her arrest record and the conviction.

Honey was hired during Del Papa's administration two years before Sandoval took office, according to records. Sandoval promoted her to chief investigator.

As chief investigator, she sat in on the questioning of the state controller and helped with the case, although another investigator did the bulk of the work.

Sandoval said he started criminal background checks on all new employees when he took office, but Honey was not subjected to a background investigation when she was promoted.

A criminal background check was conducted by the Peace Officers Standard and Training Division when she was certified as a law enforcement officer, but nothing came up, knowledgeable sources within state government who requested anonymity said.

They said Honey had four aliases including Linda D. Lambert.

Records in the superior court of California in Butte County in Chico show at least four arrests early in the 1990s of Linda Diane Lambert. Most of those records are sealed now.

However one court record shows that a felony charge of bad checks was filed against her on April 22, 1992 and she entered a plea of no contest. She was ordered to serve 30 days in jail and placed on probation.

When she completed her sentence, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and then dismissed.

Court records show Lambert faced other charges in 1991 and 1992.

Honey is listed in the records of the attorney general's office as having a home telephone number in Reno. But the person who answered the phone twice said it was the wrong number.

Before joining the attorney general's office, Honey worked for the state's juvenile probation division. And she was cross-deputized as a U.S. marshal, according to the government sources.