HALL OF SHAME CHARTER MEMBERS
Judge Eric Goodman
DA David Roger
Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman
Judge Eric Goodman in Las Vegas Justice Court dismissed six misdemeanor counts faced by the hotel company and two hotel employees. Goodman, who happens to be the son of the Las Vegas mayor, did so after hearing statements by Clark County District Attorney David Roger and Harrah’s attorney, who is Richard Bryan, the former governor and U.S. senator.
Criminal charges related to Harrah’s remodeling dismissed
Though this was entirely expected, the reality of it actually happening is still sickening. Similar to the Gaming Control Board, our apparently corrupt District Attorney David Roger seems to have decided that when a casino corporation commits crimes, all it has to do to avoid prosecution of it and its executives is say it’s sorry and pay the costs of the investigation.
Of all the shameful, despicable things we see from Nevada governments on a routine basis, this has to rank among the worst. Shame on David Roger, shame on Harrah’s, and shame on Judge Goodman.
Judging by the comments posted after the news article linked above, it appears that many other local residents are outraged by the cowardly behavior displayed by Mr. Roger and Judge Goodman. I hope that voters remember this when these two creeps are up for re-election.
Previous comments on this matter:
Harrah’s whistleblower names names
Petty spitefulness by Harrah’s?
District Attorney helping sweep Harrah’s crimes under the rug
Shoddy construction but no meaningful enforcement; MGM, Harrah’s get free passes
Regulations can be complex and some offenses are more akin to delayed paperwork or misunderstandings due to communication problems with workmen or architects. I would not object to a dismissal under such circumstances, however, total flouting of regulations, failure to even attempt to obtain a permit, attempts to hide work being done, etc. these things are serious and are not mere oversights, they are intentional acts reflective of corporate policy decisions made at senior levels. This should be treated with substantial civil penalties and serious criminal actions.
I’m sure that in a gambling town, the major casinos are left alone by the courts, but let some mom and pop operator try something like that and the civil and criminal penalties would be staggering!
FoolsGold, I couldn’t agree with you more – you hit the nail right on the head…Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. willfully broke the law not once, not twice, but multiple times, and in so doing they created the potential for another MGM Grand Fire Disaster! What the DA David Roger, Harrah’s attorney ex-Senator Richard Bryan and Harrah’s Entertainment want you to believe is that Harrah’s subsidiary Roman Empire Development was the responsible party in all of the illegal remodels…that is exactly what Judge Goodman was told. Unfortunately, this is not true and in particular our corrupt useless DA David Roger knew full well that it was Harrah’s Entertainment not Roman Empire that was responsible for more than 99.9% of the illegal remodels. DA David Roger and his staff suppressed information which they had been given by the Clark County Building & Fire Departments. Someone should ask DA Roger why not one person was interviewed by his office other than another Whistleblower who had to pressure the Clark County DA’s office to interview him, which they did and proceeded to try to turn the tables on him…the DA’s office tried to make the whistleblower the criminal! The DA’s office has a taped interview with this whistleblower, which they never ever used – my question is why? Why did the DA’s office never ever contact me, I guess they didn’t know who I was…I guess David can’t read or maybe he is just another corrupt public official that hasn’t gotten his ticket to jail yet (I go with the latter). Roman Empire Development was formed at the end of December 2006, sic months after I began my whistleblowing…and you guessed it the illegal remodels began back in the 1990’s and continued into 2007 – and Harrah’s acted as the General Contractor on most of them.
The largest Gaming Company in the world performs willful illegal remodels, which left every single room that they touched unsafe for the public to stay in (thousands of rooms), and our DA felt he only had two choices: 1. criminally go after Harrah’s Entertainment & those responsible or; 2. have Harrah’s make their hotels safe again, even though Harrah’s made them unsafe intentionally & knowingly & willfully! The way I look at it Harrah’s had to bring their hotels back into compliance with the applicable construction codes & safety regulations, and if anyone had any balls in Las Vegas or the State of Nevada for that matter they would have closed down Harrah’s Hotels until they were safe…totally safe. I keep hearing from Ron Lynn, the Director of County’s Building Department that Las Vegas has the strongest construction codes in the United States – great, but what good are they if they are not enforced? DA David Roger, you aren’t kidding anyone…you should have criminally charged Harrah’s for having left their hotel rooms unsafe for over a decade because they made the decision to circumvent the law…it was willful…Harrah’s planned their illegal remodels well in advance, and I have the paperwork to prove it! David Roger, you are part of the corruption problem here in Las Vegas, NV, and you belong behind bars. Don’t fret David because from what I have seen through my ordeal you should have plenty of company when the time comes.
People have questioned my motivation for pursuing this as I have, here is the answer: During the course of many of Harrah’s illegal remodels their construction workers, hotel employees & hotel guests were exposed to ASBESTOS, a known carcinogenic and Harrah’s management knew that we were being exposed, but flat out didn’t care. I have workers that scraped asbestos off of hotel room ceilings with nothing more than a scraper and a paper mask for protection! Harrah’s management knowingly exposed me on multiple occasions to Asbestos, something I never dreamed that they would do…by law I am entitled to work in a safe work environment. Harrah’s Entertainment’s Corporate mentality towards safety was reflected in the statement made to me by Shane Jacobs, who is now the Chief Engineer at Harrah’s, the person I initially told that I was the whistleblower: “Fred, we have all been exposed to asbestos, it is part of the job and if you can’t handle it you should look for other work.” Harrah’s not only felt that they were above the law, they also had the peace of mind knowing that Nevada OSHA, the Clark County Building Department, the Clark County Fire Department, the Clark County DA’s office, the Nevada Contractor’s Board, the Clark County Commissioners, Senator Reid, Governor Gibbons, Nevada Attorney General, the Las Vegas Police Department, and the news media would protect them because they (Harrah’s) were too important to the local economy to be held accountable for their illegal criminal actions if they were caught.
Las Vegas is drowning in a pool of corruption, which has tentacles that are deeply rooted in the “Good Old Boy” Network. In April of 2007, I had a meeting with Don Marrandino, who at the time was the President of both the Harrah’s & Flamingo Hotels, also present at the meeting was Debi Fetzner, VP of Human Resources for both hotels – ten minutes in to the meeting Mr. Marrandino made the following statement to me: “Fred, you do know that if this were the old days we would probably be handling this a little differently.” I smiled, and told Don that it wasn’t the old days. I started to open my briefcase with the intent to show Don the documentation that I had regarding the illegal remodels & asbestos exposure issues…Mr. Marrandino stopped me and said: “I do not want to be holding my arm up in court.”
I want the world to know what Harrah’s willfully did, and then I want them held accountable…nothing more…nothing less – what Harrah’s did is criminal in every sense of the word, and without a doubt their criminal acts were WILLFUL. I hope to see Don Marrandino have to hold his arm up in court, along with all the others that were responsible.