Nye County officials refer district attorney for ethics investigation

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday it was referring the county’s district attorney and his office to the State Bar of Nevada and the state Ethics Commission after investigators unearthed “administrative issues” while probing “false” allegations against a prosecutor.

The Sheriff’s Office, which disclosed the development in a short video, did not outline those issues but did announce the arrest of Las Vegas resident Kris Dane.

Dane, 55, told law enforcement that she was forced in 2018 to make false statements against a prosecutor in exchange for a job with the district attorney’s office, Lt. Adam Tippetts said in the video.

That prosecutor, Ronni Boskovich, was fired in 2019 and since has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Nye County officials, including District Attorney Chris Arabia.

Arabia could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Dane was booked Monday after she turned herself in on a charge of maliciously seeking a felony arrest or prosecution, Tippetts said. Her custody status was unclear.

Boskovich’s lawsuit, which was filed this year, alleges that Arabia and Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo “began a campaign of harassment and intimidation” against her.

According to the federal complaint, Boskovich was targeted “in part, because of her father’s political aspirations and her father and step-father’s status as homosexual males,” and she was fired after she reported Blundo for alleged sexual harassment.

Blundo and Arabia are close friends, according to the lawsuit, which also named Nye County and Arabia’s office.

Dane told investigators that she was not allowed to read or correct anything in the affidavit she signed in 2018, Tippetts said. She also reported that when she refused to cooperate and raised objections to the contents of the document after she read it, Arabia and his deputies retaliated, Tippetts said.

A search warrant was served at the district attorney’s office on Nov. 3, and deputies found evidence that Dane was aware of what she signed, and that she had even made corrections to the final copy, said Tippetts, who did not expound on the accusation.

It was not clear if Dane was ever given a job with the district attorney’s office.

Additionally, investigators found that Arabia’s office had filed a perjury complaint against Dane in Tonopah, while the “actions identified within the charging documents” did not occur there or Nye County, but Clark County.

The two-minute video released by the Sheriff’s Office did not offer additional information.

Dan Hooge, chief bar counsel for the State Bar of Nevada, said two grievances were filed against Arabia in October. One of them was dismissed while the other was still under review, but neither came from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office. Hooge said no other grievances have been filed this month.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.