Tuesday, March 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The credibility of a key government witness in the corruption case of a former Clark County judge is in question now that the witness is the target of an Arizona criminal investigation.
Terry Salem, who claims he paid more than $2,000 so former District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni would dismiss fraud charges, is suspected of being a member of a criminal ring that committed forgery, counterfeiting and laundered money, a federal affidavit said.
Federal law enforcement officials searched Salem's Phoenix home Feb. 26, seizing papers that allegedly prove his criminal involvement.
"Terry A. Salem continues to operate in an illegal capacity," said Arizona police Detective Charles Jones and IRS Agent Wanda Delgado in the affidavit. "Salem (is believed to be) a pack rat who keeps written records of all his illegal transactions."
The Arizona investigation -- launched in September 1996, five months after Bongiovanni was indicted -- raises the possibility that Salem may have been committing additional crimes while on the government's payroll. The Justice Department paid him at least $45,000 for 14 months of assistance, a federal prosecutor said.
Las Vegas assistant U.S. attorneys dispute the Arizona officers' claims and suggest the affidavit is misleading because it omits certain facts. The prosecutors refused to specify what areas of the affidavit they had problems with.
"We don't think the guy's doing anything behind our back," Las Vegas Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Shoemaker said Monday.
Fellow prosecutor Eric Johnson refused to indicate whether the Nevada and Arizona U.S. attorney offices had discussed the effects the Arizona investigation could have on the Las Vegas case.
Whether a jury will share the prosecutors' opinions that Salem, who allegedly has ties to Detroit organized crime, has stayed out of trouble was expected to be tested today when Salem took the witness stand in a criminal case connected to Bongiovanni.
The case accuses three men of fraudulently removing about $170,000 from the bank account of a deceased California resident. Salem said he helped the men, Paul Dottore, John "Jack" Jerdan and Daniel Womack, steal the money before betraying them to authorities to save himself from prosecution.
Salem has pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and is likely to serve one to four years in prison, prosectors said.
The fraud case is linked to Bongiovanni through Dottore and Jerdan. Dottore, who also is a defendant in the judge's case, is accused of accepting $2,000 from Salem on behalf of Bongiovanni. Jerdan, who only is named in the indictment, allegedly paid the judge for the dismissal of a criminal traffic violation.
Defense lawyers were forbidden from raising the issue of the Arizona investigation of Salem during the trial's opening statements Monday. However, prosecutors expect their witness's criminal record and character to be exposed during cross-examination today or Wednesday.
"It's just one of a number of things I'm sure they're going to attack Terry on," Johnson said.
The fraud trial is expected to conclude this week. Bongiovanni's trial is set for April.
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