A Las Vegas cop accused of engineering the bogus arrests of mainly Black men tried to plant counterfeit money on two of his alleged victims when he accosted them at The Cromwell, according to court documents.
On Wednesday Sgt. Kevin Menon pleaded not guilty to possession of child pornography. Approximately 500 indecent images, some showing young girls being abused, were uncovered when his Metro Police colleagues raided his home in August. Officers were executing a search warrant as part of the investigation into the alleged illegal detentions.
Racial Profiling
Prior to his arrest, Menon had been leading a team of officers on the Strip. Dressed in plain clothes while the rest of his team were in uniform, prosecutors allege he concocted fake scenarios that led to racially profiled detentions.
During the incident at The Cromwell, the fiancée of one alleged victim called 911 to complain of harassment, the transcript of which has been seen by 8NewsNow.
I guess we were racially profiled,” she told the operator. “We came in here to use the bathroom, the casino and the police officers snatched up my fiancé and his friend, had him in handcuffs, slammed him against the wall, threw all his stuff out and then he’s gonna say, ‘Oh, wrong person.’
“What do you mean? You didn’t even get a chance to explain anything that was going on. You just up and handcuff people? We want to press charges,” she added.
Her fiancé also called 911: “I just got like slammed up against the wall for nothing. They threw all my things out of my bag.”
Police Whistleblowers
The casino’s security video showed that prior to the calls, Menon, in plain clothes, attempted to hand what was later identified as counterfeit money to two casino patrons. The men did not accept it and walked away.
Then uniformed officers arrived and pretended to arrest Menon. They also approached the two men, handcuffed them and searched them before allowing them to leave, the video showed.
Some of the officers on Menon’s team were alarmed by their superior’s tactics and reported him to the police union in Las Vegas, which sparked the investigation.
Menon was arrested on August 30 and placed on leave with pay. LVMPD has since stopped paying him, according to 8NewsNow.
The defendant’s trial for possession of child sexual abuse material began Wednesday. A jury trial for the illegal detention charges is scheduled for March.
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