Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Theft trial to continue for former CSN construction chief

Three co-defendants plead guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to commit theft

Gilbert

Gilbert

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CSN official William Gilbert is accused in the theft of college property in the building of this home on Mount Charleston.

A trial looking into whether a former College of Southern Nevada official diverted CSN-owned building equipment, material and employees for his personal use will continue into its second week on Monday in Clark County District Court.

The Nevada Attorney General's office prosecutors say that William "Bob" Gilbert, a former CSN associate vice president, stole the equipment and material and even diverted college employees to do work on his dream home in the lower Kyle Canyon area of Mount Charleston.

Gilbert has pleaded not guilty to any wrongdoing.

Gilbert's attorneys say he had permission and an agreement from the college's former presidents to store equipment and supplies and do college-related work on his 4.26-acre mountainside property.

However, the attorney general's investigators have pushed ahead with the case. In a 34-count indictment that came down in September 2008, Gilbert was charged with 13 counts of theft of state-owned property and four counts of misconduct of a public officer.

However, since that time, Judge Donald Mosley has removed the four counts of misconduct from the indictment, saying that Gilbert's job did not make him a "public officer" under Nevada law.

Also, three co-defendants charged in the case recently pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Those three, who worked under Gilbert in CSN’s Facilities Management Department — Thad Skinner, Matthew Goins and George Casal — had been charged with assisting in the alleged thefts from January 2002 to June 2007.

According to court records, Skinner, Goins and Casal each cut a deal where they pleaded guilty on Aug. 5 to two gross misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit theft. Each received a sentence that amounts to one year of informal probation. They also each had to pay $25 in court fees.

Judge Donald Mosley is presiding over Gilbert's trial, which will resume at 1:30 p.m. Monday. The seven-man, five-woman jury is expected to listen to testimony for several more weeks.

Then-Sun reporter Christina Littlefield broke the story about Gilbert in March 2007 after more than a dozen former and current college employees told her they’d witnessed Gilbert misuse his position at the college.

Employees accused Gilbert of directing multiple $400,000 college contracts to subcontractors in exchange for their working on his ranch-style estate for free or at reduced cost. Employees also alleged Gilbert used college materials, equipment and employees to develop the property.

The property Gilbert ultimately developed includes an 8,200-square-foot main house, a 2,500-square-foot guesthouse, stables and a lighted basketball court. At the time of Gilbert’s indictment in 2008, the Clark County assessor listed the taxable value of the estate at $1.32 million.

The materials allegedly stolen in the scheme included lumber, cinder blocks, door handles and door locks, sources said. A manlift, a paint sprayer and a chain hoist also are among the items allegedly taken from the college.

Chief Deputy State Attorney General Conrad Hafen's first witness has been Michelle Chase, an investigator with the Nevada Attorney General's office, who testified during the first two days of the trial.

Chase said that her office began investigating the case after hearing complaints from CSN employees before the Sun first reported the story in 2007.

After the story broke, Chase said she visited Gilbert's property and took videos and photographs what she said was CSN property, including a Grove Manlift, numerous pallets of cinder blocks and a paint sprayer.

Chase also said they had reports of CSN employees working on projects for Gilbert on his property. So she searched a construction trailer on Gilbert's property and found a handwritten document showing a to-do list of tasks that had been assigned to "George," which she said she later learned was George Casal, a building construction inspector.

Hafen asked her if there was any indication that the CSN equipment or property was being used for a college-related purpose and she said no.

On cross-examination, Bryson asked Chase if anyone at the college in a position of authority ever contacted her to say the items were missing. She indicated that no one had.

Bryson tried to get her to say that the investigation was spurred mainly by the Sun's story. But Chase said her office's probe into the matter began 10 months to a year before the Sun's story broke, based on complaints from several CSN employees.

Defense attorney Brent Bryson pointed out to the jury that she had little training or experience with investigating construction crimes or crimes related to colleges. Chase said she had investigated two construction cases in Nevada and one in South Carolina.

She also said she was assisting the lead attorney general's investigator, Anthony Ruggiero, on the case. Ruggiero has since left the attorney general's office for another state job.

Bryson asked why investigators didn't call upon Gilbert at his CSN office, but went to his home instead. Chase said they didn't want to confront him at his place of employment.

Bryson asked why they didn't leave a note for him at his home on their two visits to his property. She said they left a business card on the windshield of a Humvee at his property and thought that would be enough. However, she said on the second visit, they saw that the Humvee still had the business card in the windshield.

Chase was shown a photo she took at Gilbert's property of a pallet of cinder blocks with Home Depot stickers on them that said they were supposed to go to "Community College." She said the delivery number showed they were purchased for the college.

Bryson asked if she had questioned anyone at CSN if the cinder blocks had been "swapped out" for other material. Bryson said when state investigators interviewed Gilbert on June 13, 2007, he told then the reason he had the building material on his property was because he had "swapped out" with other material he had given to the school. Chase said she wasn't present at Gilbert's interview when he made that statement.

Bryson's line of questioning seemed to be aimed at pointing out to the jury that Chase and other investigators had not interviewed CSN employees who would have had records of building materials that were missing. Bryson also said that state investigators never checked to see if any material or equipment was reported stolen from CSN. He also said investigators didn't try to find out if any of the equipment had been checked out to Gilbert.

Chase also testified that door locks had been installed on Gilbert's home by a CSN locksmith that were the same kind of door locks that were used at the college. However, Bryson, in his cross examination, said although they were identical, there was no evidence that the locks were CSN property.

Chase had also taken several photos on the CSN campus that she said showed similar building materials they found on Gilbert's property.

She said the photos also showed there was room on the campus where pallets of cinder blocks and other materials could have been stored. But Bryson, in his cross examination, indicated those photos did not show any property had been taken.

Hafen is expected to do some follow-up questioning of Chase when the trial resumes at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Following Chase, Hafen said he will call Greg Smith, the chief investigator of the case, to testify.

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