A federal grand jury has indicted a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and current Nye County, Nevada, justice of the peace for allegedly defrauding donors to a charity intended to memorialize police officers who died in the line of duty.
According to the indictment, Michele Fiore, 53, of Pahrump, Nevada, solicited donations while serving as a Las Vegas city councilwoman to build a statue honoring fallen Las Vegas police officers. Fiore purportedly assured donors that “100% of the contributions” would be used for this purpose. However, it is alleged that none of the tens of thousands of dollars in donations were utilized for the statue. Instead, Fiore allegedly diverted the funds for personal use, including paying political fundraising bills and rent and transferring money to family members for expenses such as her daughter’s wedding.
Fiore faces four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, she could receive up to 20 years in prison per count.
The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans from the FBI Las Vegas Field Office.
The FBI's Las Vegas Field Office is leading the investigation. Trial Attorneys Dahoud Askar and Alexander Gottfried from the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.
It should be noted that an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.