Ex-administrator pays price for conduct at CCSN

Monday, April 25, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

Donald Smith, the Community College of Southern Nevada administrator charged with showing favoritism to a student, pleaded guilty Friday to one criminal misdemeanor count of willfully disobeying a law regulating his official conduct.

Smith, formerly the dean of Arts and Letters, resigned from the college last month as part of his plea agreement with the Nevada attorney general's office. He paid a $500 court fine and $9,126 in restitution to the college on Friday for giving student Julie Bruton a campus job for which she was not qualified without having conducted a proper candidate search, Senior Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen said.

The restitution, which Smith was ordered to deliver to college officials on Friday, reimburses the college for the salary paid out to Bruton, Hafen said.

"I feel that it was a good resolution," said Hafen, who oversees the attorney general's public integrity unit. "We were able to get Mr. Smith out of the community college system so he wouldn't be able to engage in this kind of activity again, we held him accountable for his actions, taxpayer money was not lost and there is a criminal conviction on his record."

The attorney general's office alleged that Smith was trying to obtain sexual favors from Bruton, a topless dancer, allegations that Smith has denied.

"On the surface it appears to be a case where he is helping out a friend, but as the investigation revealed it really seemed more of an attempt to gain favors from this student in exchange for putting her on the payroll," Hafen said.

There was no indication that any favors were ever granted, Hafen said.

Jeffrey Segal, Smith's attorney, told the Sun in an earlier interview that his client was just trying to help Bruton, and there is no evidence to support the attorney general's other allegations.

"I think Dr. Smith truly believed that what he was doing was the right thing and unfortunately the one thing he didn't take into account was how others might perceive how it looked," Segal said. "I think it was a question of appearances more than anything."

Segal said Smith will be moving back home to Indiana.