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Feb. 09, 2008
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Clark County judge accused of sexual misconduct

Del Vecchio confident 'hearing will clear my name'

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nicholas Del Vecchio
Judge accused by Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission

The special prosecutor for the Judicial Discipline Commission has accused Family Court Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio of sexual misconduct and abuse of power, including coercing a judicial assistant into having a sexual relationship with him.

The complaint alleges that the relationship dates to before Del Vecchio was a judge, when the judicial assistant, the daughter of his ex-wife, was 14.

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    • Del Vecchio took nude photos of the girl when she was between the ages of 14 and 16 and had her perform oral sex on him, the 38-count complaint states. The complaint adds that Del Vecchio kept the photos after he became a judge but later destroyed them.

    The document, which is not a criminal complaint, also accuses Del Vecchio of using racial slurs against black and Hispanic court staff and of coercing staff into buying him lunches and airline tickets.

    The commission's special prosecutor, Mary Boetsch, filed the formal complaint with the Judicial Discipline Commission on Friday.

    The investigation into Del Vecchio's behavior on the bench dates back to May 2006, when the Clark County Office of Diversity began looking into allegations of sexual harassment. The office investigates allegations of sexual, racial and religious harassment in the workplace.

    Del Vecchio, 50, denied all accusations against him Friday night.

    He said the diversity office found that there was "insufficient evidence as to all the charges."

    Del Vecchio strongly denied that he had a sexual relationship with his ex-wife's 14-year-old daughter in the early 1990s. She was named in the complaint as Rebeccah Murray.

    "I feel confident that a hearing will clear my name," he said.

    It was unclear whether authorities had or intended to file criminal charges against Del Vecchio.

    Del Vecchio and Murray broke off contact in the mid-1990's but she wound up working for him when he was serving on the bench in 2002.

    Del Vecchio sought to arrange a special work schedule for Murray that would allow her to work for him, according to the complaint. The request was refused by Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

    The complaint says he went around Hardcastle and adjusted Murray's schedule to allow her to work and attend law school at the same time, but did so on the condition she have sex with him. Murray didn't want to have sex with Del Vecchio and had to get drunk to do it, the complaint states.

    When she tried to end the relationship, Del Vecchio was hostile to her and threatened to fire her, the complaint says.

    Murray filed a sexual harassment complaint against Del Vecchio with the county's diversity office in May 2006.

    Del Vecchio sexually harassed other court staff, according to the complaint. He told a family court employee, Beata Funk, that he wanted to have sex with her and wanted her to wear tight shirts while campaigning for him, the complaint says.

    The complaint also accuses Del Vecchio of:

    • Telling another judicial assistant she should date certain attorneys because it would help him get campaign contributions from them.

    • Making offensive racial comments to a Hispanic bailiff, calling him a "lazy Mexican."

    • Directing a bailiff who had a part-time job with a commercial airline to obtain free tickets for him.

    • And making staff baby sit the child of a girlfriend.

    Only the Judicial Discipline Commission has the authority to suspend or reprimand a sitting judge, court officials said. Del Vecchio will have a chance to respond to the complaint. The commission could then have a public hearing to consider the merits of the charges.

    Chuck Short, county court administrator, said the court began investigating Del Vecchio in 2006 and reported its finding to the Judicial Discipline Commission in the summer of 2006.

    "At this point, the court hopes the Judicial Discipline Commission will move at lightning speed to take action due to the egregious nature of the charges," he said. "Anything less is a disservice to the community, the judge and the lawyers and individuals with cases pending before the judge."

    Del Vecchio was first elected as a Family Court judge in 2000. He had lost seven previous elections. He has filed for re-election and drawn challengers Ellen Bezian, Cynthia Giuliani and Vincent Ochoa.

    Ochoa, a family law attorney who has argued cases before Del Vecchio, said he was surprised when he learned the extent of the accusations. He said the judge never asked him for anything inappropriate such as a free lunch.

    Ochoa said there were rumors around Family Court that Del Vecchio was being investigated, but he was shocked to learn the details of the inquiry.

    "I knew he had some problems, but I never dreamed they were this bad," he said. "I think it's an embarrassment to the judiciary."

    Review-Journal writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this story. Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.

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    Victim #2 wrote on October 25, 2008 08:02 PM: Truth does come out in the end. I may look brown like the bailiff, but I am definitely not mexican and now I know why my ex always won when we went to court. In addition, he didn't follow the law consistently and applied the law only to situations that he liked.


    Del Vecchio Victim wrote on October 23, 2008 04:26 PM: Finally, taste of your own medicine! The truth does prevail in the end! Didn't for my case because you were my judge which involved inappropritate photo's taken of my young child which you found, as I quote you..."endearing"...imagine that...all comes out in the end!


    mike leonti wrote on October 23, 2008 01:04 PM: How can the court system knowing this person of his capacity and wreckless behavior in court an outside of it, permit him to saty in the office for as long as he did?

    Bottow line is this pig has made terrible decissions in court which have ruined the lives of many. Having sex with a 14 yr old and he telling divorcees what decissons and conclusions he makes representing the legal system!!! Your day has come - Pervert!


    Scared for my life! wrote on October 03, 2008 09:30 AM: Now I see the truth. The judge has ordered me and my children to return to the state where the father lives, pending the divorce. The father tryed to kill me and went to purchase a gun..The father has an alcohol and drug problem and can only have supervised visitations with our children. We are somewhere safe and we have support from my family. The children feel safe and are active in school and sports. Now the judge wants us to just leave and have no where to stay, no job, nothing. This is supposed to be the best thing..If I don't return in 30 days he is going to give custody to the insane father that wants to kill me and himself, and still has a alcohol problem that could go off at any moment. Many people live in different states that are divorced. I think that this was an unfair and crazy decision. I thought we were supposed to think of our children 1st. They are the ones suffering the most from this. I will go to the Supreme Court and I will get justice. I will not be the next victim on the 5 O'Clock news. This will stop now!


    anonomous wrote on July 31, 2008 02:52 PM: Non of this is true! I am related to Nick, and Becky is the meanest jerk in the world. My cousin is the one who she babysat. I was there and she offered! He never did any of this. There lying through there teeth!


    ndv wrote on April 26, 2008 04:11 AM: My name is Nichloas Del Vecchio as well I searched my name on google and I found this site.


    dd wrote on April 03, 2008 08:58 PM: My ex-husband committed a felony sex-crime which ended our marriage. Our divorce ended up before Del Vecchio who awarded my ex-husband 100% of the amount of our house payments we made for 3 1/2 yrs. together as equity. My ex-husband was represented by an attorney and Del Vecchio still afforded him a collect conference call from prison @ our hearing (courtesy of taxpayers money). What world is he living in? I agree that he dislikes women and needs to be off the bench!


    divorced also wrote on February 11, 2008 11:50 PM: Tony,
    My point is this man should be in question regarding all of his decision making. Are you a father? A mother? Are your children afraid of being with you. Have you ever put your children in a unhealthy and unsafe situation? Do you have a relationship with your children? Do you care about your children? By reading these comments, there is plenty of women out there that have had problems with Del Vecchio. However, you are right. Being a women has nothing to do with being a better parent but the accusations in question brings up the question, (does Del Vecchio have any respect for women or children) and in my case he had no respect for either. Also, he did not care what position he was putting the children in. Or how safe they would be. I am not saying he is guilty of the accusations. However, there are a lot of accusations here and with what I have seen of him, I due have issues with his intentions as a judge. This is not just one accusation there are plenty questioning his integrity as a Judge. So, in the end I am glad to see that this is being investigated. I hope that it is all false. If it is shame on the accusers. If it is not shame on him.


    ANNOYOMOUS wrote on February 11, 2008 04:11 PM: DELVECCHIO DOES SEEM LIKE A PERV....I WANT HIM TAKEN OFF OF THE BENCH. HE DOESN'T NEED TO BE HAVING THE FAITH OF CHILDREN LEFT IN HIS HANDS......HE SHOULD BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY!


    dlw wrote on February 11, 2008 11:11 AM: What happened to innocent unless proven guilty? This applies to all doesn't it?


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