Moncrief to pay fine in exchange for criminal charges being dropped

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

Janet Moncrief may have deserved to lose her Las Vegas City Council seat via the court of public opinion over her filing false campaign reports, but not her livelihood from a conviction in the criminal court, the prosecutor said today.

"We did not want her to lose her nursing license," Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen said regarding the plea bargain approved Monday in District Court to settle criminal charges against Moncrief, who last month was defeated by Lois Tarkanian in a recall election.

"So, in the whole scheme of things, it was a good resolution. She was convicted by the jury of her peers -- the voters -- and paid," he said.

According to the agreement, Moncrief, a registered nurse who jetted into the political spotlight two years ago for seemingly running an inexpensive door-to-door campaign to defeat a heavily financed incumbent, will admit to civil violations and pay a $5,000 fine to the Secretary of State's office.

In exchange, the criminal charges against her will be dropped.

Had Moncrief been convicted, she would have faced a maximum of 24 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Hafen said prison time was doubtful because Moncrief had no prior criminal history. He said she likely would have received probation.

However, Hafen said, a criminal conviction would have resulted in the loss of her state license to practice nursing, and thus the loss of her livelihood, which he said would have been too great a punishment for her alleged offense.

As part of that deal, Moncrief must admit she filed false campaign reports and that she recognizes she should have filed "true and accurate" reports, said Hafen whose office is in the process of drawing up those documents.

Hafen and Moncrief's attorney, Richard Wright, were set Monday to argue in District Judge Nancy Saitta's courtroom whether Moncrief was being selectively prosecuted. But that action was vacated because of the plea agreement.

Wright, who could not be reached for comment early today, has claimed that based on similar incidents that were resolved by the Secretary of State's office and not prosecuted, Moncrief was the target of selective prosecution.

Moncrief was reached at the Sun's deadline today but declined to immediately comment, saying she wanted to first seek advice from her attorney.