Man, 61, charged with stalking North Las Vegas councilwoman

By Aida Ahmed

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011 | 6:17 p.m.

A vocal North Las Vegas man who is known to speak his mind at council meetings has been accused of stalking Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown, one of the newest council members.

But 61-year-old Gary Bouchard says he hasn’t done anything wrong.

He appeared before a judge Thursday afternoon at a hearing on a misdemeanor charge that he stalked and terrorized Goynes-Brown, her husband, her family and her associates.

The councilwoman has declined to comment.

“I’m not doing any of the things I’m charged with,” Bouchard said.

He agreed to work with the city attorney’s office to come to resolve the matter and assured Municipal Court Judge Catherine Ramsey that he would not be involved in any other incidents.

Bouchard claims he has had few conversations with Goynes-Brown outside of council meetings that he regularly attends, except for an incident several weeks ago when they had an argument.

He said during a late August incident, he called the councilwoman, who represents Ward 2 where he lives, to discuss her recent appointment as mayor pro tem. He had been escorted from the council meeting at which she was appointed for being disruptive.

“Basically there was a heated political discussion between Pamela Goynes and I over the phone. I said I wasn’t happy with (her) accepting the appointment because (she’s) not ready for it,” Bouchard said. “I’m sure I said some things I wish I hadn’t said; I’m sure she said some things that she probably didn’t mean to say.”

He said he has never been near her home or the school where Goynes-Brown is an assistant principal and has not been stalking her.

According to a police report, Bouchard repeatedly called the councilwoman at City Hall and on her cellphone. The report indicates he used profanity several times in their conversations, and when Goynes-Brown told him she could not talk to him unless he respected her, he told her, “I pay your (expletive) salary and you will listen to me.”

In the report, he also admits calling the Clark County School District claiming to be a reporter from the Las Vegas Sun to find out how much Goynes-Brown gets paid as an assistant principal. He said he wanted to write a freelance article and was not harassing her.

Bouchard has never been authorized to do work of any nature for the Sun.

Bouchard said he plans to cooperate with the city attorney’s office and stay away from Goynes-Brown but will continue to attend city council meetings as he has done for the past five years.