By Capt. Scott Henriod
White Pine County Sheriff’s Department
On September 2, 2014, The White Pine County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate suspicious circumstances at or near Building A of the White Pine Historical Railroad.
It was reported that members of the Ely City Council had illegally made entrance into the building housing the White Pine Railroad Historical Foundation files. When deputies arrived, they found several City Officials, a member of the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation, and an independent auditor.
It was discovered access had been made to the building through a window and files from a computer had been copied by the auditor. The investigation was turned over to the Detective Division. Upon investigating the matter, records were found showing the gifting of the property, including the aforementioned building, from Kennecott to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation and the City of Ely in 1987.
A copy of the Articles of Incorporation of the Historical Railroad Foundation state “All trustees of this corporation shall be the City Council of the City of Ely.” The Articles were filed with the Secretary of the State of Nevada on November 8, 1984. The bi-laws for the Historical Railroad Foundation, which were amended and approved by the Ely City Council in May of 2012, state “All books and records of the Corporation may be inspected by any member, his agent or attorney, for any proper purpose at any reasonable time.”
Furthermore, a records check with the Secretary of the State of Nevada shows the Registered Agent for the Foundation as the Ely City Attorney. Based on this information, the allegations of burglary and trespassing are unfounded at this time. All information discovered in this investigation was forwarded to the White Pine County District Attorney’s Office for review.
I looked up every definition of reasonable I could find. None of these included entering a second story window of a locked building. Plus, the one who entered the building first, is not a trustee or member of the railroad foundation. Come on guys, lets get this right. The community is watching. Besides, shouldn’t elected officials hold themselves to a higher standard of ethics?
Yes reasonable, if the necessary search is reasonable, but it was not. The necessity to search the files was beyond reasonable, it was an emergency. It was paramount to have immediate access and to search the files before any records, documents or notes came up missing or destroyed. Not completely sure all files are available or secured. Too many allegations, suspicions and non-reported transactions or apparent unnecessary transactions performed. To prevent the possibility of more alleged financial monies being misappropriated, immediate access to files by those having authority to do whatever it took to, protect the White Pine Historical Railroad, White Pine County Historical Foundation files and White Pine County Community. This was an emergency situation and it was handled as such, an emergency and was appropriate. In all due respect to Judge Rose, I disagree with his findings for the fact we have been dealing with crooks in high places for years with only a slap on the wrist and it is the citizen tax payers of this White Pine County and City of Ely who pay the price for these crooks who up and move away or are in hiding. Missing monies not accounted for totaling in the millions from the city, from the county, from an elementary school, from WBR Hospital, from a local bank…and possibly from an historical landmark and tourist attraction …shall I go on, corruption in high places! Who am I, just another White Pine County citizen who has no choice, but to pays for the misdeeds of others. We need to stand up for this present city council and those others who are exposing the possibility and probability of corruption in more high places.