Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Blog

A Tale of Two Parties

In mid-May Henderson police responded to a noise disturbance at the Hardwood Suites, an extended-stay hotel on Eastern. Inside one suite they found 21 Coronado high school students “chaperoned” by the mother of one of the teens and the mother’s boyfriend. A police spokesman says the mom, Cindy McCormick, admitted to buying booze for the party. McCormick, who was pregnant, was not drinking. Henderson police charged McCormick and her boyfriend with 21 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and threw the two in jail.

A week later Henderson police responded to a similar disturbance at a residence in an upscale neighborhood. The responding officer says 20 teens scattered from the driveway upon his arrival. The remaining teens told the officer that the others were drinking but an adult was inside. The report goes on to say Dr. Rudy Manthei, a prominent local doctor, answered the door and “Manthei himself appeared intoxicated.” Manthei told the officer he’d hired security guards to supervise the teens. Manthei also told the cop 10 of the 20 youths were spending the night.

Here’s where the two tales diverge. Rather than throwing Manthei in jail like McCormick, the policeman walked away. No citations for letting the teens drink. No arrest of Manthei. The teens (at least the 10 not spending the night) would have been free to walk, drive or otherwise depart from Manthei’s home had the cop not spotted two of them in a car already driving off. Those teens were cited for consuming alcohol and picked up by a parent.

At that point Manthei, unlike McCormick, who was charged for each child present in the hotel suite, was charged with just two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Also unlike McCormick, Manthei was not thrown in jail.

We wanted to talk with Henderson police about the disparate treatment of the two incidents, but the department declined. A spokesman would only say each case is handled as deemed appropriate by the officer. Discretion is good, but shouldn’t cops present a united front when it comes to enforcing underage drinking laws? Isn’t walking away the same thing as condoning the behavior?

The police may not want to talk with us, but STOP DUI director Sandy Heverly pledged on the program to get some answers. Also hear tonight from McCormick’s attorney Bucky Buchanan, who claims police tailored their responses based on social standing, not the law.

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