Nye County DA declines to prosecute police for allegedly shutting supervisor out of Facebook group

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Nye County District Attorney’s Office said it won’t go forward with charges after two police officers were accused of shutting a captain out of a Facebook page.

On Monday, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said that Lt. Adam Tippetts and Sgt. Cory Fowles conspired to commit computer crimes. NCSO said the two were placed on leave pending investigation.

The Nye County DA’s office declined to prosecute, saying no crime was committed. According to the DA’s office, the complaint alleged that Tippetts and Fowles shut out NCSO Captain David Boruchowitz from a non-work-related Facebook group the three managed.

“These laws are not meant to resolve private disputes among people running a Facebook page,” Nye County DA Chris Arabia said in a statement.

NCSO said both Tippetts and Fowles have returned to work after the investigation.

“Although we have taken some criticism in the media for our release our office is one of transparency regarding our officers’ conduct,” NCSO said in a statement. “In this case, two supervisors were accused of crimes and an investigator determined there was probable cause to submit the case for prosecution.”

“After carefully looking at the allegations and relevant laws, and personally reviewing the legislative history of the relevant laws, I can say with complete certainty that the allegations here are clearly not a criminal matter,” Arabia said. “The laws at issue are meant to protect against things like serious financial fraud/theft, industrial espionage, and blocking people from computer systems or networks.”

DA Arabia’s office also said the report alleging the computer crimes was nine pages long.

“I’m also concerned that there were 9 pages of written text summarizing the investigation in the police report referred to us for this matter, but my office has had reports referred to us from NCSO for sexual assault cases that have only 1-2 pages of written text summarizing the investigation.”

The DA’s office said they were not consulted about whether criminal charges would be appropriate before receiving the referral.

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