Police chief: No evidence of LVPD corruption
The Drug Enforcement Administration spent more than a year building a case against Robert Corbin Padilla, an Albuquerque man federal authorities have charged with trafficking drugs into Las Vegas. But according to a DEA search warrant affidavit, agents feared someone within the Las Vegas Police Department was providing information about the DEA-led investigation to Padilla.
It’s an allegation LVPD Chief of Police David Bibb denies.
In an email statement sent to the Optic on Friday, Bibb wrote: “At this time, there is no evidence of any employee of the police department that would suggest corruption of any kind.”
In a phone interview Monday, Bibb told the Optic he met with DEA officials on Sept. 27 to discuss the allegations made in the affidavit.
“They said they do not know of any LVPD employees (who have given information to Padilla),” Bibb said. “And I put faith in the employees of the PD, that if they knew of someone disseminating information to an unlawful source, that somebody would have spoken up by now.”
Bibb said that during the meeting with the DEA, he pledged to fully cooperate with any investigation into corruption within the police department.
The DEA’s accusation surfaced in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in September. The affidavit was unsealed on Sept. 19, following the execution of search warrants at multiple homes and a bank in Las Vegas.
According to the affidavit, Padilla is the head of a drug trafficking organization responsible for 70 percent of the cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine trafficked into Las Vegas.
In an April phone call intercepted by a DEA wiretap, Padilla spoke with a man identified as Ray Herrera. During the phone call, Herrera told Padilla to “be careful,” and indicated that he knew someone working for the police who told him Padilla was being investigated.
In a summary of the conversation between Herrera and Padilla, the affidavit states: “Padilla doesn’t believe that the investigation is at the federal level because federal law enforcement don’t share information with the Las Vegas Police Department due to Padilla’s influence within the department.”
Bibb said the DEA’s allegations were based solely on this phone conversation, and that there is no evidence of any LVPD employee providing details of investigations to Padilla or anyone else.
“They had a wiretap between two criminal associates, and one of them said he had — in the past tense — an informant within the PD,” Bibb said. “I cannot speak for a former employee of the police department. I can only speak for the ones that are here right now.”
However, a transcript of that call provided by the DEA indicates that the unnamed person Herrera is talking about was a current employee of the city’s police force — at least as of April 10 when the call was made.
According to the affidavit, the call was from Padilla to Herrera, and after Herrera told Padilla to “be careful,” Padilla said, “What did you hear?”
“Uh,” Herrera said, “some f—– that I know, that works for the hoodas (a slang term for police). Those at the little window.”
“Uh, he works for the city?” Padilla asked.
“Yeah, I guess he’s working with them fools,” Herrera said.
The DEA affidavit also alleges Padilla might have received information from someone within the district attorney’s office.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Richard Flores did not respond to the Optic’s requests for comment Monday, but in emails last week, Flores said he has offered the DEA his full cooperation.
Padilla’s attorney, Joe M. Romero Jr., told the Optic that any allegations Padilla was paying someone within LVPD or the DA’s office for information are “unsubstantiated rumors.”
“I am representing Robert Padilla in a pending drug case. That’s all he is charged with,” Romero said by phone Monday. “If and when they have the proof — the actual evidence — they will charge him. Until then, it’s just an allegation.”
Bibb said LVPD has not conducted an internal investigation because the department has no specific person to investigate.
“We don’t have a target to point an investigation toward. But what we have done is we’ve looked at our own operational security practices, and we’ve looked at how we receive complaints,” Bibb said. “We’re reviewing those and seeing where we can make some positive changes, and where we can do things better.”
