Ex-detective, who had affair with stripper, pleads guilty to felonies
A former Las Vegas police detective has pleaded guilty to four felonies in a series of crimes related to his stripper girlfriend, which included stealing for her and providing urine samples to keep her out of jail.
Lawrence Rinetti Jr., who worked for the Metropolitan Police Department for 14 years, and Michael Ramirez, a former high-ranking director of the police union, were indicted in March 2020 on charges tied to the detective’s relationship with the woman.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner said that Rinetti, who pleaded guilty on Thursday, could face four to 10 years in prison for theft, reckless driving, attempting to obtain personal identifying information for an unlawful purpose by a public officer and offering a false instrument for a filing or record.
Rinetti resigned from the department in 2020, according to a Metro spokesperson.
Rinetti was a detective with Metro’s major violators unit when he met Gabriella DiLorenzo inside the Clark County Detention Center, court records show.
Over the course of their more than yearlong affair, Rinetti was accused of a series of crimes that included stealing drugs for DiLorenzo to sell, stealing items from an impounded vehicle and helping the woman obtain a false urine sample to pass a drug test. Prosecutors have said that Ramirez also helped provide urine samples for DiLorenzo.
Ramirez, who worked as a legislative lobbyist with the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor charge and was ordered to stay out of trouble for six months, with a suspended jail sentence.
Rinetti initially faced 40 charges in connection to his relationship with DiLorenzo, including drug trafficking charges that were not addressed in the plea agreement.
He had been accused of stealing methamphetamine and heroin from drug busts to give to DiLorenzo to sell, according to court records.
His defense attorney, Tony Sgro, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Monday. Sgro has previously argued that DiLorenzo made false accusations against Rinetti in order to keep herself out of jail, and that she had changed her story about whether Rinetti provided her with stolen drugs to sell.
Transcripts detail affair
More than 700 pages of grand jury transcripts made public in March 2020 detailed the affair between Rinetti and DiLorenzo, who admitted to being addicted to heroin at the time of the affair.
To cover up their relationship, Rinetti had DiLorenzo registered as a confidential informant for a different detective after she was released from jail, prosecutors have alleged in court documents. During the relationship, she had the Italian phrase, “Lorenzo Sono Pazzo Di” tattooed on her back, loosely translating to, “Lawrence you’re driving me crazy.”
In November 2018, Rinetti woke up with DiLorenzo at the home she rented from her mother, and realized he was running late for a police firearms training course in Pahrump. DiLorenzo testified that she told Rinetti to turn his lights on to get there in time, court records show.
At the intersection of Russell Road and Rainbow Boulevard, Rinetti crashed his unmarked Ford Explorer into a Chevy Malibu. In the guilty plea agreement, he admitted to turning on his lights and siren without justification and running a red light, causing the crash and injuring the other driver.
After the crash, Rinetti told an officer that he had been chasing a reckless driver, and he later received a workers’ compensation check for more than $100,000, court records show.
The following month, DiLorenzo had to take a drug test in connection with a pending DUI case. Rinetti, who could no longer provide her with a urine sample because he had been taking Xanax after the crash, said he would ask Ramirez for help, DiLorenzo testified to the grand jury. Rinetti pleaded guilty to knowingly providing DiLorenzo with Ramirez’s urine in order to pass the test, court records show.
Rinetti also pleaded guilty to using a police database to access DiLorenzo’s mother’s personal information, including her Social Security number, in order to enable DiLorenzo to steal money from her, court records show.
He pleaded guilty to a theft charge related to an incident in August 2019 when he used his police credential to access DiLorenzo’s impounded vehicle, and took $18,000 worth of stolen gems and minerals, prosecutors wrote in court records.
Rinetti remains out of custody free on bail.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.