OAN Staff Abril Elfi
1:26 PM – Saturday, October 6, 2024
A former Las Vegas councilwoman has been found guilty of stealing $70,000 in donations meant for a memorial to honor police officers who were killed and then using the money for plastic surgery and her daughter’s wedding.
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A jury convicted Michele Fiore of six federal wire fraud counts and one conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The maximum sentence for each count is 20 years in prison.
During the trial, federal prosecutors stated that Fiore had raised over $70,000 for the statue of fallen Las Vegas police officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo, who were killed while performing their duties, but that she had instead used the funds for her own expenses, such as rent, plastic surgery, and her daughter’s wedding.
“Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,” federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said.
Michael Sanft, Fiore’s attorney, said she will appeal the conviction.
“Typically when people are that fast, they’ve already made up their minds even before the closing arguments so it had to have been some type of testimony that had occurred in the middle of the trial that caused the majority of them to say, ‘oh, that’s all we needed,’” Sanft said.
In 2021, FBI agents conducted an investigation that included a raid on Fiore’s northwest Las Vegas home. Sanft described this as happening.
The Republican lawmaker is a state member of the Republican National Committee and served one term in the Nevada Legislature from 2012 to 2016.
In 2022, she lost a bid for state treasurer to Zach Conine (D-Nev.) and was one of two local justices of the peace in Pahrump, a rural area an hour outside Las Vegas, until she was suspended from her post without pay.
Fiore will remain free while awaiting sentencing, which is set for January 6th, 2025.
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