Nevada lawmaker stole money raised from Ethiopians, witnesses say

Witnesses testified {that a} Nevada lawmaker lied about his residency and misused marketing campaign funds that he had raised from Las Vegas’ Ethiopian neighborhood, in response to new courtroom paperwork.

Former Assemblyman Alexander Assefa, D-Las Vegas, was indicted in March on 5 felony counts of providing false data for a submitting or document, three felony counts of creating false statements beneath perjury, 4 felony theft counts and two gross misdemeanor counts of submitting false residency statements on a submitting for public workplace.

Assefa pleaded not responsible to the costs throughout a courtroom listening to on Thursday and is scheduled to seem in courtroom once more in August.

In line with grand jury transcripts launched this month, Assefa took 1000’s of {dollars} in donations that weren’t accounted for in his marketing campaign finance experiences. A lot of the cash was collected throughout fundraising occasions held in Las Vegas’ “Little Ethiopia” neighborhood within the west valley.

Assefa is also accused of claiming he lived in the neighborhood, in an house advanced close to Flamingo Highway and Decatur Boulevard, whereas really residing in a home in North Las Vegas.

“Mr. Assefa’s actions ran straight in opposition to the conduct that we each count on and demand of these in public workplace,” Legal professional Basic Aaron Ford mentioned in March in an emailed assertion. “No one is above the legislation, and my workplace will prosecute this case pretty and maintain Mr. Assefa accountable.”

Assefa’s protection legal professional, Ozzie Fumo, didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Friday.

Seek for Assefa’s house

Assefa was first elected in 2018 to Meeting District 42 within the Spring Valley space and was re-elected in 2020. He resigned from the Legislature in January 2021 amid an investigation that led to the costs.

Prosecutors have accused Assefa of mendacity about his residency in declaration of candidacy varieties filed in 2018 and 2020, and in voter registration varieties filed in 2017 and 2020. At numerous factors whereas operating for workplace, Assefa claimed to reside in one in every of two residences within the Bella Vita advanced, close to Decatur Highway and Harmon Avenue.

However knowledge from Assefa’s cellphone confirmed that from April 2018 by means of Could 2020, he spent nearly all of his nighttime hours within the space of a house at 1612 Candy Jenny Court docket, close to Losee Highway and Centennial Parkway in North Las Vegas, in response to testimony given in the course of the secret grand jury listening to.

Metro investigators executed a search warrant on the North Las Vegas house in March 2020, after he had crammed out election varieties itemizing his residence in Spring Valley.

“We spontaneously confirmed up,” retired Metro Detective Aaron Stanton testified in the course of the grand jury listening to in February. “He was really standing in entrance of his home, and we made contact with him there.”

Inside the house’s workplace had been numerous bank cards and IDs in Assefa’s identify, the detective testified. The grand jury additionally heard testimony from two individuals who mentioned they rented a room within the North Las Vegas home whereas Assefa was dwelling there along with his spouse. One lady lived there in the course of the summer season of 2018, whereas a captain within the Air Pressure mentioned he rented a room from October 2019 to July 2020.

Investigators additionally carried out a search of a Bella Vita house in March 2020, the place they discovered Assefa’s mom dwelling with one other lady and a younger baby.

Police discovered no males’s garments or grooming merchandise within the house, courtroom data present.

An worker with a property administration firm testified that in February 2020, Assefa requested for assist discovering a house to hire however specified that it needed to be within the 89103 or 89147 ZIP codes in west Las Vegas.

Lacking cash

A Metro monetary analyst who testified mentioned he discovered 1000’s of {dollars} from fundraising occasions that weren’t accounted for in Assefa’s marketing campaign finance experiences.

In April 2018, Assefa raised greater than $10,000 at an occasion on the St. Simeon Serbian Orthodox Church in west Las Vegas, however the majority of the occasion’s bills weren’t documented within the marketing campaign finance experiences. One other occasion in November 2019 raised greater than $3,100, and financial institution data confirmed that Assefa made a $2,905 deposit to his private account the next day.

In February 2020, Assefa raised about $27,000 throughout and main as much as a marketing campaign occasion, however about $16,000 was not accounted for in his marketing campaign checking account, in response to the grand jury transcripts. Assefa allegedly made greater than $11,000 in deposits to his private account within the days surrounding the occasion.

Investigators additionally decided that at one level, Assefa moved about $5,000 from his marketing campaign account between his private account and an account for his transportation enterprise, KIP Transports.

“It was moved between these accounts and utilized for funds and payments that had been enterprise or private associated however had been actually not marketing campaign bills,” testified Colin Haynes, a senior monetary intelligence analyst with Metro.

Six months after police interviewed Assefa and searched the North Las Vegas house, $30,000 was transferred from Assefa’s private account to his marketing campaign checking account however was not documented on the marketing campaign finance varieties, courtroom data state.

A number of individuals who labored on Assefa’s marketing campaign testified that Assefa would inform potential voters that he wished to symbolize the Ethiopian neighborhood within the state authorities.

Girma Zaid, a enterprise proprietor in Little Ethiopia, testified that he helped collect as much as 150 individuals in the neighborhood for a fundraising occasion throughout Assefa’s re-election marketing campaign. The occasion was to boost cash for workplace house for Assefa, who informed attendees that he was struggling financially due to his commitments as a legislator.

However when Assefa and Zaid later met with a landlord, Assefa didn’t need to hire the workplace house.

“A few days later I had him in my workplace, and I did inform him that is public cash and we have to present outcomes,” Zaid testified.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Observe @k_newberg on Twitter.