Ex-Metro officer sentenced for stealing from K-9 fundraiser

A former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department who admitted to stealing from a police dog fundraiser was ordered to pay thousands of dollars Wednesday and serve up to three years probation.

Sean Malia, who worked for the department for more than two decades, pleaded guilty in October to embezzling $16,380 from the Friends for Las Vegas Police K9 Foundation from 2017 to 2019.

Since his arrest in April 2020, the 46-year-old has been diagnosed with stage 4 periampullary cancer, according to his attorney, Warren Geller, and court documents.

Malia appeared via videoconference for Wednesday’s hearing.

“I’d like to apologize for my actions and the liberties that I took,” Malia said.

At the hearing, Geller told Senior Judge Michael Cherry that Malia had provided a check to cover the amount he was accused of stealing.

Malia was indicted late last year on 12 counts of theft and one count of embezzlement.

Malia started with Metro in 1998 and was assigned to the K-9 unit from 2010 until he retired in September. He was relieved of duty and placed on administrative leave without pay after he was charged.

In a sentencing memo, Geller wrote that Malia, a father of three, had received the Medal of Honor, Unit Medal of Valor, and a National Tactical Deployment Award.

In 2016, Malia was named vice president of the foundation and later became treasurer, when he raised money for the organization to pay for travel, hotels, training and equipment for the dogs and their handlers, according to court records.

“Although the allegations in this case paint a narrative that Sean was secretive about Friends’ finances, Sean is adamant that he repeatedly attempted to recruit additional board members to help carry the load of Friends’ paperwork and bookkeeping,” Geller wrote.

The attorney added that Malia “did, in fact, take a few liberties,” with the money, including paying for a Lake Las Vegas hotel room for a woman he was dating.

Geller also wrote that Malia admitted to writing checks to his girlfriend from the foundation’s account, adding that “it certainly was not a secretive attempt to steal or help his girlfriend steal. Rather, Sean owed his girlfriend his share of living expenses and, rather than reimburse himself for expenses incurred on behalf of Friends and then write another check to her, he directly provided his girlfriend with his Friends’ reimbursement. Clearly, this was a foolish thing to do based on reasonable accounting practices, but it is not consonant with a clandestine attempt by Sean to squirrel money out of Friends to enrich himself.”

At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors did not ask for Malia to spend time in prison.

In ordering probation, the judge said he considered Malia’s medical condition.

“I don’t think that incarceration is appropriate for somebody with stage 4 cancer, to tell you the truth,” Cherry said. “I don’t think I could do that as a judge and be able to look in the mirror.”

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.