Friday, May 30, 2003 | 11:28 a.m.
FBI agents searched the home of former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera Thursday looking for records tying him to strip club operators Michael and Jack Galardi in an investigation into possible political corruption, sources close to the probe said.
Agents also searched Herrera personally, a business linked to Herrera and the office of his accountant.
Herrera, who lost a bid for Congress last year, is believed to be a target of the two-year investigation, which became public May 14 when agents raided two Galardi-owned topless clubs, Cheetahs and Jaguars. Herrera has denied wrongdoing.
FBI spokesman Jim Stern said agents executed six search warrants Thursday in the investigation, but he declined to confirm whether Herrera was the subject of the warrants, where they were served and what agents were looking for.
"I can't comment because this is an ongoing investigation," Stern said. "But the warrants are all related to the investigation."
Reached at his home following the nearly 6-hour search, which began at 7:30 a.m., Herrera declined comment.
"My attorney has advised me not to comment," he said.
His lawyer David Brown also declined comment.
But sources close to the investigation said court-approved search warrants allowed agents to look for evidence of payments or gifts from the Galardis to Herrera and his wife, Emily, and her consulting business, Urban Development Services dating back to 1997.
Agents, the sources said, also searched for notes, ledgers, journals and newspaper articles relating to strip club ordinances that came before the County Commission as far back as 1997. Herrera was elected to the commission in 1998.
One of the subjects mentioned in the search warrant was last year's well-publicized ordinance tightening lap dancing rules at the clubs, the sources said.
The ordinance, which was pushed by County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson-Gates, whose name has not surfaced in the FBI probe, was approved on July 31 by a 5-1 margin. Herrera, who left the commission in January, was the lone dissenter.
Both Herrera and his wife were present when more than a half-dozen agents searched their home on Callahan Avenue in the southeast part of the valley. Agents reportedly took a couple of boxes filled with items from the house.
Agents decided to get search warrants for Herrera's residence because, under instructions from his lawyers, he was not voluntarily turning over requested records to the FBI, sources said.
According to a copy of a court-approved search warrant used in the May 14 raid at Cheetahs and Jaguars, FBI agents had permission to search the clubs for a "ledger or journals or handwritten notes of payments or gifts" to Herrera and his wife, Emily.
Agents also searched for the same kinds of records for County Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and her husband, Robert Chauncey, former County Commissioner Erin Kenny and her husband, John Kenny, and City Councilman Michael McDonald.
Kincaid-Chauncey and Erin Kenny have said through their lawyers that they received target letters in the FBI investigation. McDonald has said he is not a target.
Herrera and his lawyers have refused to confirm whether he is a target, but sources close to the investigation said he has received a target letter.
The investigation, which reportedly involved the use of court-approved wiretaps, also is said to be focusing on the Galardis, who also run Cheetahs topless club in San Diego. Agents searched the San Diego Cheetahs and the City Hall offices of three councilman there on May 14.
Former County Commissioner Lance Malone, a lobbyist for the Galardis, has acknowledged being interviewed by FBI agents on the day of the May 14 raids. He has denied media reports that he is cooperating with the FBI. Malone's name did not appear on the May 14 search warrants.
Herrera, a Democrat, opted to give up his commission seat to run for Congress last year in the new 3rd Congressional District. He lost to Republican Jon Porter and now runs a public relations consulting business.
In June, in the middle of his congressional campaign, Herrera reported to Metro Police that his home was burglarized while he and his wife were in Washington, D.C.
Herrera said someone broke in with a crowbar and stole, among other things, computers that contained all of his personal financial information. He said he had no backup for the information.
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