Former Nye County official sentenced to probation for bribery

By Mary Manning

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | 11:04 a.m.

Peter Gust Liakopoulos

A former Nye County commissioner has been sentenced to five years of probation on a felony bribery conviction, plus three-year probation terms to run concurrently for two related misdemeanor charges.

Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Robert W. Lane also sentenced Peter Liakopoulos on Monday to 500 hours of community service and attendance at an ethics class at his expense.

The judge stayed a 60-day jail sentence in the Nye County Detention Center, pending his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. The court also ordered Liakopoulos to reimburse the Nye County Public Defender's Office $500, and ordered him to disclose the convictions to any current or future employer.

Nye County Sheriff's Office detectives arrested Liakopoulos in December 2007 for trying to bribe a county official. Detectives investigating the case said Liakopoulos had approached Pahrump Town Board member Laurayne Murray with a promise to vote for a county half-cent sales tax increase in exchange for her vote to appoint his wife, Jenny Liakopoulos, as a curator to a proposed veterans museum.

Liakopoulos's wife did not get the position in October 2007. Subsequently, Liakopolous voted against the county sales tax.

The two misdemeanors involved offers of a reward for an appointment and grafting by a public official.

The court ordered that all three sentences run concurrent to each other if Liakopolous's appeal fails.

"The district court has appropriately sentenced Liakopoulos for violating the public's trust," Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement.

Conrad Hafen was the prosecutor for the attorney general's office.