Officers file lawsuit against Metro

Two Metro Police officers suspended and demoted in 1996 over allegations they used falsified documents in an attempt to win a promotion for one have filed a lawsuit claiming they are the victims of a conspiracy that reached Sheriff Jerry Keller.

In a 35-page lawsuit, Lt. Steven Franks and Sgt. Ronald Fox alleged that their friendship and Fox's "whistle-blowing" efforts when he was a narcotics officer in 1991 prompted a long list of Metro brass to seek their firings.

Fox alleged that he discovered fellow narcotics detectives "were using department money and/or drug money to gamble, taking suspects to the undercover apartment and having sex with them and drinking on duty."

According to the lawsuit, Fox reported the conduct to then-Sgt. John Alamshaw, who "decides he will retaliate against Fox, because he perceives Fox as a snitch who rats out other cops.

"In May and June 1991, Fox receives numerous death threats, both at home and on his pager, from or at the behest of Alamshaw," the lawsuit, filed by Reno lawyer Jack Kennedy, continued.

In late 1993, Alamshaw is purported in the lawsuit to have vowed to Franks that he will "get even with Fox no matter how long it takes."

Despite the allegations that he was targeted, Fox was promoted to sergeant in 1993.

Alamshaw later became a lieutenant assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau and used that position to pursue and punish the duo, the legal action alleges.

Franks and Fox are joined in the lawsuit by Lynna Green, a Metro civilian employee who claims that she also was victimized and relegated to dead-end clerical jobs because of her association with Franks.

Metro spokesman Lt. Rick Alba indicated he was unaware of the lawsuit that was filed Tuesday and said, "We will have to take a look at the lawsuit" before commenting.

Although Fox and Franks claim that animosity dates to 1991, the legal action indicates their careers continued in upward paths until the scandal over documents submitted in an effort to gain Fox a promotion to lieutenant.

The bogus documents, according to the lawsuit, actually were reconstructed evaluations of Fox's job performance, because earlier evaluations were missing.

Franks admitted to Metro officials that he was responsible for the documents and had signed the name of Lt. Michael Ault, Fox's supervisor.

Ault, according to the lawsuit, said that was authorized but Metro brass ignored that and disciplined the officers.

Franks was promoted to captain in 1995 and assigned to the Southeast Area Command, where Fox and Green also were assigned.

While Franks and Fox concede they were demoted, they claim the charges of wrongdoing were false and evidence clearing them -- including lie-detector tests -- was ignored.

The lawsuit alleges that when Fox and Franks appealed the action to Metro's Civil Service Board, Keller "improperly influenced" board chairman Elgin Simpson to railroad the pair.

When the discipline was upheld, the lawsuit charges, "Alamshaw had pens made up which had engravings on them which congratulated Internal Affairs workers on bringing down Fox and Franks."

The legal action states that Fox was pursued six other times by Internal Affairs in the following year and finally terminated.

That firing, however, was overturned by an arbitrator in February 1998 and Alba confirmed that Fox is back on the job as a patrol sergeant.

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