Prosecutor: Jail officials possibly freed airport worker

The mystery over the quick release from jail of one of the three arrested airport technicians deepened Monday as the judge handling the case told lawyers he had nothing to do with the release.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento made the disclosure during a private conversation at the bench after he had set a preliminary hearing for Matthew Charniga and his co-defendants on charges of stealing electronic gear from McCarran International Airport.

Afterward, Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Staudaher said authorities planned to investigate the circumstances surrounding Charniga's Feb. 4 release on his own recognizance. Charniga, 39, who has a 1994 felony conviction for voluntary manslaughter, was set free a day after detectives arrested him.

"We're going to look into it," Staudaher said.

Staudaher said he also wants to know how Charniga's co-defendants, Joseph Cordova and Chad Norton, both 34, were released on their own recognizance.

Justice of the Peace Bill Jansen, who signed the warrant authorizing police to search Charniga's home on Feb. 4, said he played no role in Charniga's release from the Clark County Detention Center.

That leaves open the possibility that jail officials themselves might have taken steps to free Charniga, Staudaher said.

On Friday, Staudaher said Charniga's release might have "circumvented the normal process." He was let go without having to appear before a justice of the peace and without giving prosecutors a chance to argue for bail, the prosecutor said.

Detectives ended up beating Charniga to his home at 6484 High Sierra Ave. to conduct the search and were able to seize a .22-caliber revolver, with electronic equipment thought to have been stolen from the airport. The discovery of the weapon led prosecutors to consider adding a charge against Charniga of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Charniga, Cordova and Norton face burglary, theft and conspiracy charges contained in a seven-count complaint drawn up on Feb. 11.

Police suspect the three men, who installed and repaired surveillance cameras at the county-run airport, might have sabotaged a camera on the airport grounds.

Sciscento set their preliminary hearing for June 28, but the hearing is not likely to occur because Staudaher plans to present evidence of the thefts to a grand jury for indictment. That would move the case directly to District Court.

Charniga and Cordova have been fired from their jobs amid the criminal investigation. Norton, their supervisor, is on paid administrative leave.

Charniga, who began working at the airport in October 2006, received an eight-year suspended sentence in 1994 after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Thomas Cacino Carcelli in the parking lot of the Meadows mall.

All three defendants in the theft case worked at McCarran's Information Systems Division, which has about 80 employees who provide technical aid to airport departments. Among their duties, the technicians worked on cameras in the baggage claim area and on those outside the airport.