Lawyers for Las Vegas police officer, union official dispute charges

Lawyers for a suspended Las Vegas detective and a former high-ranking director of the police union asked a judge on Wednesday to throw out felony charges against them.

Michael Ramirez, who worked as a legislative lobbyist with the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, and Lawrence Rinetti, who joined Metro in 2006, were indicted in March on charges tied to the detective’s relationship with a drug-addicted stripper.

Defense attorney Tony Sgro, who represents Rinetti, argued that questions from prosecutors during testimony to a grand jury were peppered with “moral judgment” and that the 24-year-old woman, Gabriella DiLorenzo, leveled phony accusations against Rinetti in order to keep herself out of jail.

Early last year, prosecutors said, Rinetti was at a drug bust on Las Vegas Boulevard North, where he stole 1.2 ounces of methamphetamine, which he provided to DiLorenzo to sell. She testified that she told Rinetti that she sold the drug.

Sgro said DiLorenzo’s testimony was unreliable and pointed to previous interviews with police in which DiLorenzo initially said Rinetti did not give her drugs, but later changed her story.

“So the drug charges, at a minimum, should go back (to the grand jury) for presentation of exculpatory evidence to actually the grand jurors to understand the extent to which and how adamant Ms. DiLorenzo was that Mr. Rinetti never gave her any drugs,” Sgro said during a hearing that lasted several hours and was briefly interrupted by an earthquake that rattled the 14th-floor courtroom. “That is completely void in this record … That is not a fair presentation.”

But detectives later found a picture of the methamphetamine on Rinetti’s phone.

Later, on another bust, Rinetti stole heroin, according to the court records, and gave it to DiLorenzo to sell.

Rinetti, who has been relieved of duty without pay, faces 40 counts of felonies and gross misdemeanors, including trafficking in a controlled substance, misconduct of a public officer, conspiracy, offering a false instrument for filing or record, and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner argued that Rinetti lied to detectives about his relationship with DiLorenzo.

“The things that this individual did, as a licensed detective, are outrageous,” Hamner said.

Ramirez was placed on leave from the union after his indictment on one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime and offering a false instrument for filing or record.

Prosecutors have said 45-year-old Ramirez and 46-year-old Rinetti provided urine samples to help the woman pass court-ordered drug tests while Rinetti carried on a romantic relationship with her.

Ramirez’s attorney, David Roger, who represents the police union and is the county’s former top prosecutor, argued that testimony about Ramirez did not incriminate him.

“None of those pieces of evidence, either by themselves or put together, independently connect officer Ramirez to this crime,” Roger said.

District Judge Tierra Jones said that she would review Wednesday’s arguments and issue a decision in the coming weeks. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and remained free on bail.

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