Nye sheriff’s office responds to questions about case

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office responded to inquiries about Angela Evans, former CEO of Valley Electric Association Inc., not being charged by the Nye County District Attorney’s Office. Evans was facing allegations of embezzlement by the sheriff’s office.

In a video release, Nye County Lt. Adam Tippetts said, “The Nye County Sheriff’s Office conducts investigations, makes arrests based on probable cause and submits the case to the district attorney for prosecution. We operate separately from them. In the case of Angela Evans, she was arrested based on probable cause after a review of the evidence against her.”

According to the Legal Information Institute, an independently-funded project of the Cornell Law School, “Probable cause is a requirement found in the Fourth Amendment that must usually be met before police make an arrest, conduct a search, or receive a warrant. Courts usually find probable cause when there is a reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed (for an arrest) or when evidence of the crime is present in the place to be searched (for a search).”

Evans was arrested Feb. 26 on suspicion of embezzlement of $3,500 or more during the execution of a search warrant by the sheriff’s office. She was arrested over accusations that she billed the co-op $75,000 for work on her personal residence in Pahrump. The alleged work done on Evans’ Pahrump home was to move power lines underground.

In the second half of December, Nye County District Attorney Chris Arabia made a statement to the Pahrump Valley Times on his decision to not charge Evans.

“My chief deputy and I carefully reviewed the entire file, consulted with experts and made a field trip to look at the site in question,” he said, reading from his written statement. “Based on our thorough review, we decided not to prosecute Evans.”

Evans left the co-op in July, according to a news release from Valley at that time.

Evans came to the co-op in 2017 as executive vice president of operations and was named interim CEO in May 2018 after former CEO Thomas Husted announced his retirement. She was named as CEO on a permanent basis in October 2018.

To view last week’s sheriff’s office video on the issue, go to https://bit.ly/2EPAich

Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com, on Twitter @MeehanLv