Boggs gets her say in court soon

Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

Ten weeks after being charged with criminal campaign violations that could land her in prison, former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs is getting a chance to respond in court.

Her showdown with prosecutors will occur Tuesday in the courtroom of Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle, who will preside over a preliminary hearing to determine whether Boggs should be bound over for trial.

Boggs, who founded a Christian ministry after losing her seat on the County Commission last year, is free on her own recognizance.

Prosecutors had considered dismissing a June 4 criminal complaint against Boggs and seeking a grand jury indictment to avoid a public preliminary hearing before trial, but decided against it this week. Defendants named in indictments go directly to trial.

"We'll put our case on before the magistrate on Tuesday," Clark County District Attorney David Roger said.

The case is being handled by Chief District Attorney Eric Jorgenson, who heads Roger's major fraud unit, which has prosecuted other public officials.

The four-count complaint, filed at the request of the Nevada Division of Investigations, alleges that Boggs falsified 2006 campaign reports to make it appear that she lived in the district she represented when she did not and misrepresented payments to her children's nanny.

Prosecutors frequently seek indictments in place of criminal complaints so key witnesses are not subjected to cross-examination by defense attorneys before trial.

"It makes it easier for witnesses to testify," Roger said.

Witnesses sometimes are reluctant to take the stand initially, and the grand jury proceeding, conducted behind closed doors, provides them a greater level of comfort, Roger said.

Boggs was charged in the complaint with two counts of filing false records and two counts of perjury. Each of the records counts carries a prison term of up to five years, and each of the perjury charges carries a maximum four-year penalty.

State investigators alleged that Boggs filed campaign documents indicating her residence was in her commission district. Instead, her campaign assistant, Linda Ferris, alledgedly rented the house.

Ferris told investigators that Boggs paid her $400 a month from a personal bank account to "establish a paper trail." Ferris allegedly would cash the checks and return the money to Boggs.

The investigation was aided by a private detective hired by two politically potent labor organizations, the Culinary Union and Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which worked to defeat Boggs last year. For six weeks during the campaign, the private detective, David Groover, videotaped Boggs living at a house outside her district.

Groover is among those subpoenaed to testify at Tuesday's preliminary hearing.

Boggs also is accused of lying when she claimed on campaign reports last year that she paid her nanny, Kelly McCleod, $1,230.52 from "Friends for Lynette" and listed the expenditure as related to special events. McCleod told state agents that she babysat the former commissioner's children, but never worked for the campaign.

Beyond the state case, Boggs also faces a federal criminal investigation into a 2005 Arizona land deal. The Sun reported in September that Boggs failed to disclose that a developer she had helped with a county zoning issue sold her nearly five acres in White Hills, Ariz. To pay for it, Boggs received a $25,000 credit and a $100,000 interest-only loan from the developer.

Boggs' attorney, William Terry, did not return phone calls Tuesday.