Former county recorder expected to cop a plea in corruption case

Former Clark County Recorder Fran Deane's criminal corruption case is so old that most people reading this might wonder "Fran who?"

At best, they might vaguely recall this quirk: Two of her bribes were delivered inside stuffed toy animals.

Not your ordinary bribery method.

Deane was charged in June 2006 with misconduct by a public official, theft and fraudulent appropriation of property. Three months later, District Judge Douglas Herndon removed her from office for malfeasance at the request of District Attorney David Roger, who moved quickly to get her out of office and off the public payroll.

The criminal trial has been delayed repeatedly, but the delay tactics are near an end.

On April 24, Deane is scheduled to go to trial on 18 felony counts related to corruption for accepting bribes to sell copies of information she was supposed to store for the public. But the scheduled two-week trial before District Judge Valorie Vega probably won't happen.

Instead, two sources say, Deane is expected to accept a plea bargain and plead guilty to three felonies. In exchange, the district attorney's office will dismiss 15 counts and stand silent when it comes to arguing for a sentence.

Her attorney, Conrad Claus, will be able to argue for leniency without any prosecutor arguing for a stiff sentence. Claus didn't return calls Tuesday or Wednesday.

I'm pretty sure Judge Vega knows what a prosecutor would argue. A prosecutor would say Deane was a corrupt elected official who deserves time in prison for betraying the public's trust.

A savvy prosecutor might say Frances "Fran" Deane ran for public office in 2002 eager to sell copies of the documents she was entrusted with preserving. Loan documents. Liens. Foreclosure documents.

According to the complaint, Deane was sworn in as Clark County recorder in January 2003 and the next month ordered disks with the office records so she could keep them "safe."

By April, police say, she contacted Monty Miller, owner of American Document Co., and asked whether he'd be interested in buying records from 1969-2001 for $20,000.

(This is not the same Monte Miller who is an adviser to Gov. Jim Gibbons, although both Millers are staunch Republicans.)

The complaint alleged that at one time Deane, who ran as a Republican, asked for $1 million, and another time she asked for $100,000. Authorities, however, admitted they could only prove that she took $44,000.

Another would-be purchaser of public records, Joseph Gekko, owner of Lenders Services Direct in Orange County, Calif., told police he tucked $16,000 into two toy animals to bribe her. Miller and Gekko both were granted immunity.

The value of the records was to set up a database that would provide records for title searches, although title companies already pay to use their own system.

Deane now lives in Wisconsin with her parents. Efforts to reach her were unsuccessful.

One of the early Review-Journal stories about her reported that she was consulting a psychic to make significant decisions in the office. She didn't hide the fact that initially she wanted to sell the documents herself through another company and pocket the profits. And she saw nothing wrong with that. The Nevada Ethics Commission did, and fined her $5,000.

When she couldn't do it aboveboard, she went underground.

Corrupt Clark County officials aren't exactly a rarity. But usually federal officials bring them down. Deane's case marks the first time in recent memory a Clark County official was investigated and prosecuted by the police and district attorney instead of the feds. It was the first case stemming from the police department's two-man public corruption unit, Detectives Mike Ford and Bob Whitely.

Deane, a mortgage banker backed by title companies and the GOP, apparently sought the $72,000-a-year job figuring she could earn her taxpayer salary and then a few dollars more under the table.

Judge Vega isn't going to look kindly on that. Anybody want to bet that Deane won't be seeing the inside of the women's prison in North Las Vegas?

Deane's defense: former County Manager Thom Reilly and District Attorney David Roger targeted her.

Perhaps they did. But there's nothing wrong with investigating someone suspected of being corrupt. In fact, that's called doing your job.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.