Las Vegas officer was behind ‘unlawful detentions,’ report says

A Metropolitan Police Department sergeant was arrested on suspicion of a “pattern of unlawful detentions,” targeting citizens up and down the Las Vegas Strip, an arrest report alleges.

Kevin Menon is accused of bumping into a person with force on a walkway between two Las Vegas Strip hotels, pretending to be a “suspicious person” in order to engage people in conversation before detaining them and shoving a fellow Metro officer, among other actions that amounted to people being unlawfully arrested, police said.

“It is not just a mistake which led to a single unlawful detention; it is a pattern of unlawful detentions which led to multiple arrests, detainments and violations of rights. The common factor in all these detentions and arrests was Sergeant Kevin Menon,” wrote arresting officer Matthew Pluck in the report.

Menon, who was arrested Friday and is facing charges including oppression and battery, has been employed with Metro since 2014 and was assigned to the Tourist Safety Division in Metro’s Convention Center Area Command.

His arrest report describes six incidents, five of which occurred in the span of only three days in May, during which Menon allegedly provoked citizens, leading to arrests with no probable cause in some cases. He is also accused of using his position as a sergeant overseeing report writing to suborn perjury, or induce someone to lie under oath.

The incidents

On April 26, Menon allegedly pretended to be a suspicious person and engaged another man in conversation in the sportsbook of The Cromwell.

Menon then instructed officers to “detain” him. The officers then escorted Menon out of the sportsbook and instructed the man, Micah Gibson, to follow, the report says.

Gibson was subsequently detained without probable cause after being told officers wanted to identify him due to his associations with Menon, who never revealed he was actually a police sergeant, the report alleges.

Officers in Menon’s squad also detained and arrested a man walking along a pedestrian bridge between Bellagio and Caesars Palace on May 3, according to the arrest report.

Menon, while in plain clothes and without anything identifying himself as a police officer, allegedly shoulderchecked Marquise Brown while walking.

After bumping into Brown, Menon instructed officers to stop him, the report said. Brown was eventually arrested on a misdemeanor knife charge.

In an interview with Metro on June 13, Brown said that he had been walking by himself and listening to music when Menon “shouldered me, like the hardest I’ve ever been shouldered.”

Brown told officers he would have pressed charges against Menon if he had the opportunity, but officers had ignored him when he mentioned being shoulderchecked. His case was later denied by the Clark County district attorney’s office, according to the arrest report.

The next day, May 4, Menon reportedly approached Deshawn Kelley on Las Vegas Boulevard by Margaritaville, according to the report.

Menon, dressed in plain clothes, said he saw Kelley staring at him with angered eyes. When Menon asked if he was alright, Kelley pulled up his pants, an action that the arrest report described as a “common gesture in preparation to fight.” Kelley was taken into custody.

On May 5, four people — Ronald Kennedy, Christian Camacho, Gerardo Ceheto-Barron and Luis Rivera — were taken into custody on the casino floor of The Cosmopolitan by officers for reasons that were inconsistent and changed multiple times, according to his arrest report.

An illegal vehicle search was orchestrated by Menon at the time, the report said. In an interview on May 25, Metro Officer Seth Acda said none of the subjects gave consent to search the vehicle, but that he had believed there to be probable cause to do so because Menon had instructed him.

The same day, officers detained two people, Greg Brown and Ahmad Collins, after Menon again reportedly posed as a suspicious person at The Cromwell casino.

Menon, dressed in plain clothes, attempted to hand Brown and Collins fake currency, according to the report. Sanchez and Metro Officer Abbygail Armijo placed the two men into handcuffs, both believing Menon had probable cause.

When the officers realized he did not, they released them, the report said.

After Brown called 911 to report unlawful detention, Menon put on a Metro jacket and responded to the complaints, never revealing he was the person who had tried to give them fake currency, the report said.

Also on May 5, Menon, in plain clothes, walked up to Metro officers when a suspect was found hitting a Nevada Energy power box, the report said.

When Metro Officer Brett Flygare attempted to stop the suspect, Menon used his right hand to shove Flygare in the chest, according to the arrest report.

Metro’s Internal Affairs Bureau began investigating Menon after receiving a complaint from Gregory Stinnett, a Metro officer and Las Vegas Police Protective Association secretary, on May 15.

Four unnamed officers from Menon’s area command turned to Stinnett to share their concerns about their squad’s direct supervisor.

Menon had only been in the role for approximately one month, Stinnett’s letter mentioned, according to Menon’s arrest report.

Following his arrest, Menon posted bond and has been released from custody. He faces charges of oppression under the color of office, including one with force, subornation of perjury and battery on a protected person.

Menon is scheduled to appear in court on October 7.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram and @estellelilym on X.