Indictment handed down in theft of NLV inmate funds

Molly Ball

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.

A woman who allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the inmate fund at the North Las Vegas Detention Center was indicted Monday, according to court documents.

Diana Thompson is charged with multiple felonies for allegedly stealing more than $400,000 during her three years at the detention center, where she was a supervisor with access to computer records of inmate accounts.

Thompson was fired in July 2003 after a routine city audit showed at least $156,000 was missing from the accounts she oversaw. A subsequent police investigation into the missing money indicated the larger scope of the alleged theft.

The indictment charges Thompson with five counts of theft, three counts of unlawful acts regarding computers, two counts of misappropriation or falsification of public accounts and one count of forgery.

Thompson is scheduled to enter a plea in District Court on Nov. 15.

Thomson allegedly gambled heavily at local casinos during the three-year spree in which she made more than 1,600 changes to inmate accounts, according to the criminal complaint against her.

Since her firing, the city says it has changed the way the inmate fund is handled, putting more than one person in charge of making sure it is properly kept.