LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Attorneys for suspended LVMPD sergeant Kevin Menon have now filed a motion to dismiss one of two cases against him.
Menon is facing charges for abusing his police powers by manufacturing bogus arrests on the Strip. In a separate case, he's charged with possessing child sex abuse material.
WATCH: Attorneys for suspended LVMPD sergeant file motion to dismiss one of two cases against Kevin Menon
I went through hundreds of pages of court documents that paint a vivid picture of alleged retaliation in the abuse of powers case.
You can read those documents for yourself below.
Menon - Motion to Dismiss.(Filed)PDF by aroberts.news on Scribd
Dominic Gentile, one of Menon's attorneys in the abuse of powers case wants the case tossed based in part on text messages in group chats in late 2018 and early 2019, when Menon was in Metro's gang unit.
The messages and memes show a pattern of racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. When Menon voiced his concerns about the texts, court records say he was retaliated against.
The text threads, filed as exhibition to support the motion to dismiss, contain images of Adolf Hitler and a quote attributed to Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele.
One text says "I'll show them what threats to Jews really are."
Another contains a discussion about "beating minorities."
One text says Officer Doug Calder's finishing wrestling move should be called "the knee of white guilt" and Calder responded "no guilt on my end."
In another text thread, Officer Brian Ulrich states a colleague got his "first gang unit slam tonight. Grabbed that big *** BMA (black male adult) by his dreads."
In court records, Menon says he's Indian, a practicing Jew, and married to a black woman.
The motion claims he routinely received racist and discriminatory text messages from others in the gang unit, including his then-supervisor Travis Ivie. Before Menon reported the messages to his superiors, court records show Ivie gave Menon glowing performance reviews.
After Menon voiced his concerns, the motion claims he was removed from the gang unit and re-assigned to the Convention Center Area Command, which also patrols the Las Vegas Strip.
Menon eventually filed whistleblower complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Nevada Attorney General's Office alleging racism, discrimination, and retaliation.
Months after filing with the AG in 2024, Menon was removed from duty.
There's much more to unpack here, including more texts that depict a culture of violence and disregard for working within the confines of Metro's policy. We're still combing through the court record and will continue our coverage on Thursday.
Local News