A Las Vegas police sergeant faces several charges for allegedly orchestrating multiple unlawful arrests of Black men, violating their civil rights in the process.
According to court documents obtained by KLAS, Sgt. Kevin Menon is accused of abusing his power and making several fake arrests after instigating incidents with the public.
He’s been charged with nine counts of oppression under color of office, two counts of subornation of perjury, oppression under color of office with immediate threat or use of physical force, and battery of a protected officer.
In April and May, Menon led a specialized unit to conduct crime check operations on the Las Vegas strip. During those operations, he was dressed in plain clothes while his colleagues were in uniform.
Bodycam and surveillance footage show Menon and several Las Vegas Metropolitan police officers stopping and frisking several men and making multiple arrests during those operations. Several individuals are heard on video expressing confusion over why they’re being taken into custody.
“Why am I going to jail?” one man is heard asking an officer during one arrest.
In a different incident, Menon is seen on surveillance video bumping into a man who appeared to have a knife larger than what is permitted on the Las Vegas strip. Bodycam video shows Menon accusing the man of wanting to “fight someone” right after shoulder-checking him.
“He bumped into me and then you guys were like right behind me,” the man complained as he was being cuffed. “It was a setup.”
In another incident, Menon was seen on surveillance video trying to hand two men fraudulent bills, but they rejected his offer. Two officers then cuff Menon and pretend to detain him, and then return and search the men Menon approached. They were released after one of them demanded to speak to a supervisor, and Menon returned wearing a police jacket.
Menon was also seen on bodycam footage shoving a colleague who wasn’t aware he was the sergeant on duty during one operation.
“I’m the f***ing sergeant, you idiot,” a casually dressed Menon is heard telling the officer.
Las Vegas Metro Police didn’t learn of Menon’s conduct until May 15, when the Internal Affairs Bureau received a letter accusing Menon of abuse of power.
According to charging documents, the letter was penned by an officer with the city’s Police Protective Association, who alleged Menon “was using ‘possibly illegal tactics’ while dealing with the public.”
Several officers testified against Menon, stating that the sergeant manufactured scenarios for citizen arrests that they conducted under his direction. They added that Menon then directed them to modify police reports.
“Sgt. Menon gave it back to us and said something along the lines of how we need to change like the story and say that the individual we arrested purposely bumped into another civilian and he was trying to articulate how the knife could have been used in the fight and the civilian that Sgt. Menon was referring to was himself but he didn’t want his name to be put in the report,” Officer Justin Candolesas said. “It sounded like the most illegal thing a sergeant could do.”
Another officer recalled an incident where four people were taken into custody without probable cause after Menon accused them of making obscene and inappropriate remarks to women near a restroom.
“He did not want to be included in the reports and he would send our reports back to change them in our incident crime report system to essentially take his name and the lieutenant’s as well as the captain’s name out even though they would provide us with probable cause or reasonable suspicion,” Officer Abbygail Armijo said, adding that Menon would constantly state, “The captain has my back.”
Most of the men taken into custody were Black, court documents cite. Investigators believe the arrests may have been part of a scheme to skew crime statistics.
No other officer was arrested. Menon has been suspended from his job without pay while the case is pending.
