Nevada Republican In Hot Water

'COME FORWARD': Young vows to pursue probe

Sheriff defends investigation of Gibbons

By FRANCIS McCABE and DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Now it's up to Chrissy Mazzeo, a nonvoting single mother and cocktail waitress, to decide whether she wants police to investigate further her allegation that Rep. Jim Gibbons assaulted her in a parking garage on a rainy Friday night.

Sheriff Bill Young said as much Thursday at a news conference, where he defended the integrity of the Metropolitan Police Department, the officers who conducted the initial investigation and his own actions related to the Oct. 13 incident.

"Bring it on," Young said. "Come forward, sign the crime report, and I guarantee if you want an aggressive investigation ... you ain't seen nothing yet. We will investigate this thing every ... every nth of it. There will be no stone left unturned.

"But she's (Mazzeo) going to sign a crime report first."

Mazzeo's attorney, Richard Wright, said it was too early to say whether Mazzeo would sign a police complaint against the Republican candidate for governor, or whether that was something he wanted his client to do. Mazzeo has told police she didn't want to press charges "'cause of who he (Gibbons) is and I just don't want to go up against something like that."

Wright said he told Mazzeo, "Take time. Reflect. Think about everything. And then we'll sit down and talk about it and make a determination."

Until Mazzeo decides whether she wants to go forward, Young said, the case is in limbo.

"Without a victim, we have no case," he said.

If Mazzeo agrees to go forward, Young said, investigators will interview her again, walk the scene where she claims Gibbons attempted to sexually assault her and interview other witnesses, including those sitting at the table where Mazzeo and Gibbons first met.

"She (Mazzeo) could be 100 percent right on this," Young said. "If we find out that this was not a misdemeanor battery and that Jim Gibbons attempted to sexually assault this woman we will take it to the nth degree."

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who also attended the news conference, said he would not speculate on any charges that could be filed in connection to the case.

"Right now Ms. Mazzeo has to make a decision on whether she wants to cooperate with the prosecution and the investigation," Roger said. "If she is willing to give us 110 percent, Metro detectives will continue working with her and fulfill their obligation to investigate the case."

Roger said he wouldn't discuss the facts of the case because the investigation is not completed. Any further investigation should include whether any coercion occurred, Roger said.

Wright didn't see the news conference and didn't want to comment on what was said. But Wright said police can investigate this case regardless of what an accuser does or doesn't do.

"Whether it's public corruption, attempted sexual assault or battery, they don't need someone to come and sign a complaint to investigate," he said.

"There are many cases that proceed forward where the witnesses and or the victims are reluctant out of fear, duress, whatever," Wright said. "The whole idea that, 'Gee, our hands are tied until somebody squeaks,' I don't know where that comes from."

Mazzeo, 32, first met Gibbons, 61, on Oct. 13 at McCormick & Schmick's restaurant, a short walk from Gibbons' room at the Residence Inn in the Hughes Center complex on Flamingo Road.

Gibbons and his campaign advisor, Sig Rogich, had been at the restaurant dining with campaign donors. They planned to leave, but returned for drinks and to wait out a rainstorm.

Mazzeo and friend Pennie Puhek were at the bar when Puhek recognized Gibbons. The two women joined the Gibbons' table, which also included two women who knew Rogich.

Mazzeo told police Gibbons flirted with her and played footsie with her under the table while they all drank. Rogich and the other women at the table have said they didn't see any inappropriate behavior from Gibbons.

Gibbons left the restaurant after 10 p.m. and has said Mazzeo exited just a few minutes later. She said she left 15 to 20 minutes later.

They crossed paths outside the restaurant and Gibbons offered to help Mazzeo find her truck, and they walked to the nearby parking garage.

Once in the garage, Mazzeo told police that Gibbons grabbed her arms, shoved her against a wall and threatened her before she ran away. Gibbons has said he grabbed Mazzeo only to keep her from falling down after she tripped.

Mazzeo called 911 three times that night, and eventually relayed her story to investigators.

The next day, Mazzeo told police she didn't want to press charges and hoped the complaint would go away.

At a news conference Wednesday, Mazzeo said she was scared because Puhek told her she could be hurt if she didn't drop the case. Mazzeo also said Puhek told her she could get paid if she recanted her story.

Puhek denied making those statements.

Wright said on Wednesday that police never bothered to interview Rogich or the two other women at the table in the restaurant, where a waitress described the atmosphere as "flirty and dirty."

Young said investigators stopped trying to contact witnesses because Mazzeo said she didn't want to go forward with the investigation.

Gibbons' lawyer has taken statements from three people at the table with Gibbons and Mazzeo. All denied anything inappropriate happened at the restaurant between Gibbons and Mazzeo.

Young assured no preferential treatment was given to Gibbons. "On the contrary, when our officers arrived on scene and realized a ranking Nevada politician and one of two people who will eventually be our next governor was involved in this situation, they did everything possible to ensure that a fair and impartial investigation was conducted."

Wright has accused Young of acting improperly by calling Gibbons to tell him of the investigation.

"As the head of Metro, I felt it was my duty to personally undertake this responsibility of calling the congressman and telling him that we needed to interview him," Young said. "Many times the head of an agency will contact a high profile individual and advise him or her that they will be contacted for an interview."

The sheriff has told the Review-Journal that during his days as a rank-and-file officer he wouldn't have waited until the next day to try to interview a suspect.

Young added Thursday that he didn't give Gibbons any information related to the investigation during their conversation other than to tell him he needed to be available for a police interview.

Also, Young said investigators repeatedly asked Mazzeo if anyone had tried to coerce her or intimidate her into not going forward, but she said no.

Wright has said the Police Department was wrong to release information about Mazzeo because she was a victim of attempted sexual assault.

But Young said, "Based on our preliminary investigation, probable cause does not exist to indicate that a sexual assault occurred." He added that the investigation instead pointed to a misdemeanor battery. As a result, releasing Mazzeo's identity, police reports and 911 tapes was allowed under Nevada law.

Wright said he did not ask for the police statements because they were already available through media sources by the time he became involved in the case.

Police spokeswoman Carla Alston told the Review-Journal that pictures of Mazzeo taken by detectives would not be released because it is considered evidence.

A police report stated that Mazzeo had "two small scratches, one on her shoulder and one on her back." Mazzeo offered no explanation to investigators about how she got those injuries, according to police reports.

Wright said he has asked police for the photographs, but had not received a response to his request.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada called Thursday for an outside agency to take over the investigation.

"Despite the sheriff's willingness to revisit the matter, it is impossible to unring a bell, and it is hard to imagine how Metro can now proceed with an investigation that will inspire the public's or Ms. Mazzeo's confidence," said Lee Rowland, public advocate for the organization.

Rowland criticized Young, a Republican, for not acknowledging the damage done to the investigation by his support of Gibbons' candidacy for governor. She also said Roger compromised his office's independence by appearing at the news conference.

"We believe the public and Ms. Mazzeo would be best served if the Attorney General's office or some other independent party were to look into Ms. Mazzeo's accusations," she said.

But state and federal law enforcement agencies said they don't see a need to be involved in the investigation.

Attorney General George Chanos' office released a prepared statement that said, "at this point ... he believes the primary jurisdiction to investigate and/or prosecute lies with the local police department and district attorney's office. However, if requested or if it appears necessary for us to become involved, we will consider what, if any, action may be appropriate at that time."

The FBI in Las Vegas said Thursday that it is not looking into the Gibbons incident.

Review-Journal writers Brian Haynes and Molly Ball contributed to this report.

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