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Lawyer at center of HOA probe indicted on drug charge
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
Nancy Quon, a high-profile Las Vegas attorney, was indicted Wednesday on a felony drug charge in connection with allegations of a suicide scheme. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Apr. 21, 2011 | 6:21 a.m.
Nancy Quon, a high-profile Las Vegas attorney who made millions as a pioneer in the field of construction defect law, was indicted Wednesday on a felony drug charge in connection with allegations of a suicide scheme.
Quon, 51, who is at the center of a separate federal investigation into corruption and fraud within homeowners associations, was charged with conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. The charge draws a maximum five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The Clark County grand jury indictment alleges Quon provided the cash to her live-in boyfriend, former Las Vegas police officer William Ronald Webb, and his friend, two-time convicted felon Robert Justice, to purchase the drugs from undercover detectives in November.
Webb and Justice were indicted in January in the scheme to obtain 51.4 grams of the club drug gama-hydroxybutyric acid.
The new indictment reduces the amount of GHB the defendants allegedly obtained unlawfully to 29.2 grams.
Webb, 43, faces drug conspiracy charges as well as a charge of conspiring to commit murder. The grand jury on Wednesday added one count each of burglary for Webb and Justice stemming from the undercover sale of the GHB in a 2007 police-owned Cadillac. The charge was added because the defendants entered the police vehicle with the intent to unlawfully possess the GHB.
Police allege that Quon was trying to arrange her own death with drugs that she and Webb incorrectly believed would be undetectable.
Quon has denied trying to kill herself.
The charges are built around the testimony of Justice, 45, who befriended both Webb and an undercover detective. Justice, who has struck a deal to testify for prosecutors, has told police that Quon wanted Webb and her family to collect on her life insurance.
Quon and Webb are set to be arraigned on the charges Tuesday before District Judge Jackie Glass.
Webb is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $400,000 bail.
An arrest warrant was issued for Quon, but prosecutors stipulated with defense attorney Thomas Pitaro that she has until Monday to surrender for booking, then will be freed on her own recognizance. After her arraignment, Quon would have 24 hours to post $3,000 bail.
Pitaro declined to comment.
Justice, who is free on his own recognizance, will be arraigned separately May 3.
The grand jury also has been investigating Quon and Webb on arson and insurance fraud charges stemming from an Oct. 28 fire at her 73 Dollar Pointe Ave. home. The fire, which police believe was part of a botched suicide attempt by Quon, caused some $250,000 in damage.
One of the witnesses listed as having testified before the grand jury was former Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle, a longtime friend of Quon's. Oesterle did not seek re-election last year.
Two days before the fire, Quon was described as "detached and despondent" in a meeting with local and federal investigators probing the homeowners associations.
Police said in November that Quon's indictment in the federal HOA case was "imminent," but federal charges have yet to be filed.
The Review-Journal has reported that Justice Department prosecutors from Washington, D.C., have taken over the case and also are investigating possible leaks from the local U.S. attorney's office that could have allowed Quon to alter or destroy evidence.
Federal prosecutors are now said to be working out plea deals with as many as 30 HOA investigation targets in an effort to obtain indictments against Quon and others.
Review-Journal reporter Francis McCabe contributed to this report. Contact Jeff German at jgerman@review journal.com or 702-380-8135.
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Truth Finder: Are you saying that there are a plethora of drug dealers in Las Vegas? Really? And they are walking the streets as free men and women? No investigations on them? Wow! How interesting!!!
Bruce.Baxter: I don't know about the HOA investigation targets that much but I do think you hit the nail on the head when you said she is the "fall gal". Ironically I think Las Vegas was a lot less corrupt when it was run by the Chicago mob than it is now or has been since the F.B.I. kicked them out. One couldn't pay me enough to live in Las Vegas today or since 1980 let alone live under a HOA!!!!
Nancy Osterlie, was a corrupt jurists and under investigation. This was reason why she did not seek re-election. District Court Judge Jackie Glass and lawyer husband Steve Wolfson should be investigated for having receiving pay offs from Rick Rizzolo and Co.
How much will the prosecution of Quon cost Nevadans? One million dollars...$25 million...more? And on what? The word of a two-time convicted felon trying for a plea deal to avoid a third strike. The real crime is spending millions on grand juries, wire taping, investigations so the Las Vegas DA can prosecute "ONE conspiracy to buy drugs!" I hope Governor Sandoval is watching. Here's where someone's budget is too big if he has this kind of money to spend on one case against a first time offender...for GRAMS. I hope the voters are watching, especially the police, firefighters, teachers, and other government employees who will be laid off because of the budget crunch that the state is facing.
For my money, I want 100 actual drug dealers off the street.
And as far as the Federal prosecutors and the HOA case, how much money did they spend after two plus years of the same waste? Now they have to get 30 HOA targets to plea deal too.
Maybe, just maybe she's innocent.
As tax payers these are the things we cannot afford anymore. It's like California spending $25 Million on Barry Bonds for lying... Good Grief Charlie Brown.
Dasgeiss:
Interesting conclusion that she is being framed. I'll buy that if it means that those "30 HOA investigation targets" that are working out plea deals to save their own skins are told no dice. Personally, I'd much rather that Ms. Quon rats them out then the other way around. Rather than concentrate on one person, why not get them all? So yes, this may be a set up so that only she takes a fall while the rest walk. Pathetic because it had looked like an entire corrupt system was going down, not just the designated "fall gal". Please keep her alive and well, we need her talking.
The way this is supposed to go down is that everyone is interviewed. Their stories are examined closely for contradictions. Those with faulty stories are then deposed. Once they take the oath and are confronted with their inconsistencies they almost always start going after each other. Before long you have even more folks to interview and later depose. IT IS TRULY A THING OF BEAUTY. Snagging as many lawyers as possible just can't be beat. Just imagine that your baseball team wins the World Series, your football team wins the Super Bowl and your basketball team wins the NBA Championship and that poor girl your married inherits $50 million and you are still married. That's the kind of feeling I'm talking about when they all start squealing on one another. You think that Mike Wallace only did 60 Minutes for the money?
Stranger: FRAMED!!!!!!!!!!! BIG TIME! This whole thing stinks to high heaven! A highly successful wealthy attorney decides to give it all up for a few ounces of drugs? Let's see. Millions of dollars; 2 beautiful daughters and a grandson; smart as a whip; everything to live for; and she decides to give it all up! Sure! We should all be so unlucky! Anyone really believe that???? Whoa!
Where is Nancy Quan now? It is rumored that she has left the country and is in France.
Has anyone ever contemplated that her enemies, the developers and even the opposing attorneys who may have lost their cases to her, may have created a lot of her problems? This is a smart woman. Does it even seem reasonable to think she would give money for drugs to a 2 time felon? This does not make any sense to me. Can anyone say “framed”?
For those inquisitive people who are dying to know who the players are. You can see it all, at the following web site. HOA1234 Dot Com
Just look for the Banner for the “Hall of Shame”.
You can also contact the Nevada Real Estate Division and ask them what HOA’s are involved in construction defects complaints.
Hint; The BIG ones that have the most money seem to have the most problems about how to handle it. Check with the Internal Revenue Service next.
@ need help!:
What would you do with that information? Nearly all of the condos in town were affected by construction defect litigation. You can't go to the Ombudsman's Office because they are paid off. You can not do anything because everybody is being paid off.