Lombardo denies request for lock interrogation reports involving Stephen Paddock’s room
LAS VEGAS — On Friday the Baltimore Post-Examiner reported in the article ‘Las Vegas mass shooting victims’ attorney seeks lock interrogation reports and more’ that the Texas law firm of E. Craig Eiland had sent a Nevada public records request to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) on June 29 for the lock interrogation reports for Stephen Paddock’s Mandalay Bay Hotel rooms and also cell phone records and cell phone videos obtained from any person at the Mandalay Bay on October 1 and October 2.
On July 11, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo who runs the LVMPD responded in a letter to that request:
Your public records request dated June 29, 2018, addressed to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Office of Public Information has been forwarded to my office for response. You are requesting the production or inspection of documents that are mentioned on page 7 of 81 of the LVMPD Force Investigation Team Report under Event No. 171001-3519, footnote 3 of the report. Below are the specific documents you are requesting:
- All lock interrogation documents from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino obtained by LVMPD in connection to the 1 October shooting.
- All cell phone videos obtained from any individual at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for the period of 12:00AM on October 1, 2017 to 11:59PM on October 2, 2017.
- All cell phone records obtained from any individual at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for the period of 12:00AM on October 1, 2017 to 11:59PM on October 2, 2017.
Please be advised the records listed above are considered evidence. Any evidence connected to an investigation is not a public record; therefore, cannot be released without a subpoena or court order.
Attorney Craig Eiland told the Baltimore Post-Examiner on Tuesday evening that they would be seeking a subpoena.
Doug authored over 135 articles on the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas Massacre, more than any other single journalist in the country. He investigates stories on corruption, law enforcement, and crime. Doug is a US Army Military Police Veteran, former police officer, deputy sheriff, and criminal investigator. Doug spent 20 years in the hotel/casino industry as an investigator and then as Director of Security and Surveillance. He also spent a short time with the US Dept. of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration. In 1986 Doug was awarded Criminal Investigator of the Year by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia for his undercover work in narcotics enforcement. In 1991 and 1992 Doug testified in court that a sheriff’s office official and the county prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence during the 1988 trial of a man accused of the attempted murder of his wife. Doug’s testimony led to a judge’s decision to order the release of the man from prison in 1992 and awarded him a new trial, in which he was later acquitted. As a result of Doug breaking the police “blue wall of silence,” he was fired by the county sheriff. His story was featured on Inside Edition, Current Affair and CBS News’ “Street Stories with Ed Bradley”. In 1992 after losing his job, at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Doug infiltrated a group of men who were plotting the kidnapping of a Dupont fortune heir and his wife. Doug has been a guest on national television and radio programs speaking on the stories he now writes as an investigative journalist. Catch Doug’s Podcast: @dougpoppa1
“If a government body denies access to a public record that is at least 30 years old, is not about a natural person, or is about a natural person who has died, the record is presumed not to be confidential and should be able to be accessed by district court order.”
I’m confused. Is he saying the current court order doesn’t require release of this particular evidence?
Another stall tactic? I will never understand why LVMPD’s Sheriff Lombardo continues to act like they have something to hide, if they don’t! Lombardo & the FBI have to know the constant stall tactics are getting in the way of victims & the victim’s families being able to move forward.
“When a government body asserts that a public record is confidential, the government body has the burden of proof to demonstrate by a preponderance of evidence that the record is confidential.”
According to #6 in the court order, government records are presumed to be public records. Orders 1-27 can be found at the following link and start on page 19. https://www.scribd.com/document/377615794/Vegas-Supreme-Court-Appeal-Filed-Appellant-Cross-Respondent-s-Docketing-Statement-18-15838-pdf