Lawyer faces new charges in courthouse scam; two more indicted
A Clark County grand jury returned a superseding indictment Wednesday in a courthouse counseling scam involving defense lawyer Brian Bloomfield, adding new charges and defendants.
Bloomfield, along with two new defendants -- his wife, Amber McDearmon, and bail bondsman Thomas Jaskol -- are facing new charges of conspiring to destroy and destroying evidence in the case.
District Judge Linda Bell set bail at $50,000 for McDearmon and $34,000 for Jaskol. Bloomfield is free on $50,000 cash bail from the original 52-count indictment.
McDearmon, 28, and Jaskol, 32, were to post bail Wednesday afternoon during a walk-through at the Clark County Detention Center. They each face arraignment with Bloomfield before District Judge Jessie Walsh on Feb. 22.
In all, five defendants are now charged in the case.
Bloomfield and two others, former counseling service owner Steven Brox and juvenile probation officer Robert Chiodini, were first indicted in December in a scheme that provided prostitutes and other defendants with phony certificates of completion for court-ordered counseling and community service between February 2008 and May 2010. They face a variety of charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime, forgery and offering a false instrument for filing or record.
Prosecutors added eight new counts to the superseding indictment, raising the combined number of felony and gross misdemeanor charges against the five defendants to 60.
McDearmon also is facing felony charges of forgery and offering a false instrument for filing or record. And both McDearmon and Jaskol are charged with accessory to forgery and accessory to offering a false instrument for filing or record.
The destruction of evidence case revolves around the testimony of Brandon Snowden, a jailed felon and former Bloomfield employee. Snowden, 28, told the grand jury he helped Bloomfield, McDearmon and Jaskol destroy office records linked to the investigation during a late-night rendezvous following a police raid in April 2010.
At the time, Bloomfield and McDearmon were not married, but were living together. The couple had twins in October, and county records show they were married in January.
McDearmon has a gross misdemeanor conviction for conspiracy to commit burglary, and her case is one of those identified in the superseding indictment as including phony certificates of completion.
Bloomfield, 36, represented McDearmon, who never showed up for dozens of hours of court-ordered community service, but ended up getting certificates of completion for the hours, according to grand jury transcripts.
Jaskol co-owned Downtown Bail Bonds, 608 S. Third St., in April 2010 when the law office records were destroyed, according to grand jury transcripts. Las Vegas records show the company no longer is in business. Its corporate license has been revoked.
Both McDearmon and Jaskol were present Wednesday when the 60-count superseding indictment was returned and declined comment afterward.
Snowden, who was an office runner until he was fired in the middle of the criminal investigation, gave police three bags of shredded documents from Bloomfield's office at 810 S. Casino Blvd.
A police forensic scientist spent 2½ months assembling -- piece by shredded piece -- a pile of documents that played a role in helping prosecutors obtain the Bloomfield indictment.
Snowden, who has convictions for theft and forgery in 2005, faces robbery and kidnapping charges. He currently is behind bars.
Contact reporter Jeff German at
jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
