Candidate has designs on job and a badge to prove it

Monday, Oct. 23, 2006 | 7:34 a.m.

Ronald Hilford is making one fine impression as Henderson Township constable. He has begun shopping for new uniforms, and he is hunting for a few good deputies.

Just one thing. He's not the township constable.

"The guy came in and he said that he wanted to change the uniforms for his department," said Ann Erickson, uniform manager at American Shooters, a firearms and police supply store along Boulder Highway. But she knew that Earl Mitchell is the constable, and he's running for re-election on Nov. 7.

She told Hilford as much.

"He said, 'No, I'm going to be the constable,' " Erickson recalled.

Hilford is in fact running for the post against Mitchell. Since the 59-year-old Hilford thinks he's got the race sewed up, he decided to get an early start.

He created at least two mock advertisements - one for deputy constables and one for civilian field officers - that looked extremely similar to Clark County job postings. The ads, printed on standard-sized paper, asked applicants to submit applications to his home on Wind River Drive in Henderson.

He created his own badge and had the logo copyrighted. He calls himself the Clark County Constable on the job ads. (No such position exists. Constables are not assigned to counties.)

For his efforts, he earned a letter from Deputy Assistant District Attorney Robert Gower. Hilford has no right to hire employees or represent himself as a constable, Gower wrote.

"It was a weird situation, and I didn't pursue it too much," Gower said. "But I wouldn't have a badge created for a mythical department and use it."

Hilford insists he has done nothing wrong. He said he was doing the right thing by getting ready to take the reigns as constable on Jan. 2.

"There's a lot of preparation," he said. "There are only five weeks from swearing-in time to getting to work to get all the paperwork together."

In several telephone interviews Friday, Hilford said he distributed fliers with the advertisements only once in a meeting with the Henderson Police Association. Hilford said the ads were meant to show the type of professional people he plans to hire when he becomes constable.

"They do not exist out in public," he said. "They are baseless allegations. There are no fake ads.

"My only assumption is Mr. Mitchell knows the people and planted a phony story," he said. "These claims have no foundation in fact."

Mitchell responded: "He is mentally unstable. He's scary. He's a conniving liar."

And Hilford, who has lived in Clark County for about eight years, also said he never went searching for new uniforms. "I unequivocally deny that," he said.

Hilford said he thinks the allegations are in retaliation for ethics complaints he filed against Mitchell and retired Henderson Police Chief Michael Mayberry earlier this year.

Hilford alleged that Mitchell was illegally serving both as constable and as a police officer at the same time, and that Mayberry allowed it so he could control the constable's office.

The state Ethics Commission dismissed the complaints. Stacy Woodbury, the commission's executive director, called the claims "curiously imaginative allegations." Serving in both roles is not illegal.

The Henderson Township constable earns a salary of $2,400 a year. But that's just a tiny part of the income. The constable's office keeps the fees it collects from serving evictions, summonses and handling other duties.

County records show that the office collected more than $160,000 in fees this year. The money goes to pay Mitchell and his deputies.

Hilford said his income is derived from a portfolio of investments that he manages part time.

In fact, not much is known about the man running on the Democratic ticket for Henderson constable. He declined to provide a detailed resume to the Sun or to discuss his past.

Property records show that he has owned about 10 properties in Nevada and California since 1981.

Hilford claims he has worked as an officer in the Los Angeles County Sheriffs' Department and as an inspector, investigator and supervising senior inspector for the City of Los Angeles' Department of Public Works.

Officials from those departments have no record that Hilford ever worked there.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense, where Hilford claims he served as an agent, did not return calls.

Hilford says he belongs to the Henderson chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. But that's not exactly true.

Gene Altobella, president of the chapter, said Hilford used to be a member of the lodge. "He dropped out," Altobella said. "He didn't pay his dues."

On a campaign Web site, Hilford lists himself as a member of the non profit Nevada Center for Public Ethics. The center's president, Craig Walton, confirmed that Hilford was a member.

"But we don't endorse anybody, ever," said Walton, a UNLV emeritus professor of ethics.

The site also states that the Retired Santa Fe Police Officers Association of Las Vegas endorses him for constable. Chuck Stansberg, president of the Las Vegas Fraternal Order of Police, said he had never heard of the organization. An Internet search also failed to find such an organization.

But Hilford said he believes he's deeply qualified to serve as constable. The main job of the constable is to serve court papers.

"I'm extremely qualified for the job," he said. "I've never run for public office before. But I've been here in the valley for about 10 years, and I want to serve the community."

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this story.