LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation executive director Thomas Kovach has been indicted by a grand jury on theft charges.
Kovach was indicted last week. He's accused of diverting nearly $350,000 from the LVMPD Foundation to another nonprofit he was in charge of called Project Real— taking more than half the funds to himself.
According to court documents, the theft scheme spans from 2018 to 2022.
Channel 13 previously spoke to accountant Deborah Granda who worked with Kovach at Project Real.
Granda told Channel 13 she found it strange that Kovach was listed as a consultant for Project Real while serving as executive director.
"Tom was never an employee. He was not a W-2 employee. He was a 1099 consultant. And who hires a 1099 consultant as our executive director? Like, it just did not make sense," Granda said.
Granda said she also had no one to whom she could bring her concerns.
"The only official board members were Tom and another person. And the other person basically just said, anytime I tried to approach her on any issues, the response was, 'he's in charge, he's the one you need to take up your issues with,'" Granda said.
Current LVMPD Foundation executive director Karen Marben told Channel 13 that she immediately made changes when she took charge.
"Our hope is that our donors will continue to know that we are to be trusted and every dollar that is invested in our organization is going to go to the purpose in which it was intended for," Marben said.
The Foundation said Kovach left as executive director in early 2023. According to the summons, the Foundation's marketing director Pamela Puppel told detectives she believed "he was leaving on his own, but then found out he was fired by the board."
Mike Kamer, the current executive director for Project Real, previously sent us a statement reading in part:
Kovach is not Project Real. Project REAL is the 18,000 students we served in the 2023-2024 school year. Project REAL is the 2,260 students who participated in our relationship violence prevention program in the last year. Project REAL is the 100 percent of Nevada’s high school seniors who had access to our “Adulting 101” guide as they graduated in June. Project REAL is the countless judges, lawyers, business owners and community members who support us.
While the current situation may have made our work more challenging, it has not made it any less important. Our team knows who we are and the value of our mission. We are saving lives and improving futures.
We encourage the community to get involved, schedule our services and support us, as we continue to build a better Nevada. Existing donors and supporters are welcome to reach out to me directly with any questions."
Kovach is set to be in court on October 31.
