Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Blog

Above the law?

TV ads for Judge Donald Mosley portray the longest-serving jurist on the bench in Nevada as a no-nonsense, tough-on-crime kind of guy. But Mosley's critics contend the judge sometimes behaves as if he's above the law.

There's the money the judge owes a local charity for homeless teens. In 2003 Mosley's fiance, T.K. Crabb, asked an official at the Southern Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth for comped tickets to a benefit.

Not only was the charity out the money it cost to feed Mosley and Crabb, but the credit card number Mosley used at the event to buy sports memorabilia was declined. The charity says the judge gave it the runaround when it hounded him for the money, and five years later the debt remains on the non-profit organization's books.

And there's the $500 bill for the singer at Mosley's 2002 campaign kick-off, T.J. Johnson, who says she remains unpaid. Crabb told me she paid $200 cash to a friend of Johnson's (the friend says it's not true). So I asked Crabb why the expenditure does not appear on Mosley's campaign expense reports. Crabb says she personally paid it and never got reimbursed by the campaign. We asked if any other campaign expenses went unreported, but Mosley respectfully declined to comment on that or any of the other questions we submitted in writing.

We'll post a link to a few of those questions.

Tune in tonight to hear how Mosley has avoided paying court-ordered child support for ten years. The judge has waged a well-publicized battle against the mother of his child, claiming she's mentally unfit. But he did agree at one point to let Terry Mosley share custody if she would forego child support. You can hear from Terry Mosley tonight on the program. And if you're interested in a case that screams of Justice: Old Vegas Style, check out the correspondence and court transcripts we're posting from the case.

We're also posting a voluntary recusal just filed in the case by Judge Noel Manoukian, who includes in his order a telling description of Judge Mosley's (Don, as he calls him) behavior in the battle.

And on the eve of Nevada Day, here's a trivia question: What's the connection between the Mosleys' tortured custody battle and the recent story on attorney Laura Fitzsimmons' alleged attempt through Gary Gray to gain state Supreme Court candidate Kris Pickering's promise to recuse on cases involving Fitzsimmons' firm, if she were elected?

The answer tomorrow.

Also, tonight, political consultants Dan Hart and Ryan Erwin talk about last-ditch efforts among the campaign to get your vote, including a stinging TV ad running about Steve Sisolak, a candidate for the County Commission.

This, too, has a connection to that Supreme Court race.

Judge Mosley declined to comment when asked the following questions:

1. You told the RJ you'd talk about TK Crabb's case after Judge Walsh ruled. That was several years ago.

a. James Guesman says you suggested to him that documents could be drawn up to indicate TK was employed. Is he lying?

b. Did you ever see copies of cancelled checks proving TK's contention that Guesman cashed her checks?

2. Four years ago TK requested comped tickets for the two of you to attend a benefit event for the Southern Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, at which the Herbst family was honored. You purchased an autographed baseball at the auction. You were notified on several occasions that the credit card you provided was declined, however you never made good on the purchase and retained the ball. Why?

3. Do you have a court order rescinding your 1994 order to pay child support?

4. A country singer named TJ Thompson performed at your campaign kick-off in 2002. She says she is owed $500. TK told me she paid Tracy Hurst $200 cash for TJ. No such expense appears on your campaign report. TK claims she paid it out of her own pocket. What other campaign expenses have you not reported?

5 . TK says she secretly taped phone conversations with Terry Mosley. She says you were very concerned about her welfare when you found out about it, after the tapes were taken to Metro. Were you concerned about her breaking the law?

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