Settlement reached between former CEO, Nye County sheriff’s captain
The former CEO of the Valley Electric Association has reached a $400,000 settlement in her lawsuit against a former sheriff’s office captain accused of falsely arresting her.
Former Nye County sheriff’s office Capt. David Boruchowitz was indicted in August on federal charges of wire fraud, perjury and civil rights violations in connection with the alleged false arrest of Angela Evans.
The indictment came about three years after Evans sued Boruchowitz and Nye County, also alleging that Boruchowitz denied her of her constitutional rights by arresting her without probable cause in February 2019. Evans’ attorney, Andre Lagomarsino, said Nye County was later dismissed from the lawsuit.
Lagomarsino said that the state has indemnified Boruchowitz, meaning Nevada or the state’s insurance will pay for the $400,000 settlement reached last month.
He said that Evans wanted to resolve the case in order to “move forward with her life.”
“She has a very strong career path and wanted to continue to pursue her career, instead of having to be involved with David Boruchowitz for any more time than she’s already been involved with him,” Lagomarsino told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday.
The lawsuit alleged that Boruchowitz caused Evans “indescribable mental anguish and emotional pain,” plus the deprivation of her income and economic harm. Evans’ job at the utility company was terminated about five months after she was arrested and placed on administrative leave.
“Defendant Boruchowitz also acted with intent to deprive Plaintiff of her Constitutional rights, in reckless, disregard of her rights,” according to the lawsuit. “His conduct was committed in bad faith and acquiesced to by NCSO.”
Boruchowitz is a high-profile and powerful figure in Pahrump, whose conduct was exposed in a Review-Journal investigation in February 2022. Boruchowitz was on administrative leave at the time of his arrest, but he resigned from the sheriff’s office in October, Capt. Harry Means said Thursday.
In the criminal case, Boruchowitz is also accused of committing wire fraud by issuing multiple press releases falsely stating that Evans’ arrest was the result of a court-authorized process. The U.S. attorney’s office has alleged that her arrest was “part of a larger scheme” to make Evans lose her job by accusing her of embezzlement for allegedly using association funds to pay for burying power lines at her home.
Former Nye County District Attorney Chris Arabia declined to prosecute Evans in December 2019.
According to court documents in the lawsuit, Boruchowitz helped form an activist group, Members for Change, to remove the Valley Electric Association’s leadership at the same time he was overseeing Evans’ arrest. He had also considered running for a paid position on the board, according to testimony in the federal lawsuit.
The criminal indictment alleged that during a deposition in the lawsuit, Boruchowitz lied about the circumstances of a search warrant executed against the utility company. According to the indictment, Boruchowitz lied about knowing that the warrant was the result of a tip from someone identified in the indictment as “K.J.,” and that he lied when he said he did not know of “K.J.’s bias against Evans,” or that “K.J. had demanded the resignation of the VEA Board.”
Boruchowitz was arrested in August following the federal indictment but was released later that day after pleading not guilty. U.S. Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler ruled that he cannot possess a firearm or work as an active duty police officer with the power to detain or search people.
Evans intends to testify against Boruchowitz in the criminal case, Lagomarsino said. Evans’ arrest was a “traumatic situation” for her, Lagomarsino said, especially after Boruchowitz published videos online about her arrest.
“She also feels that she’s going to get a measure of justice from the criminal justice system when he’s prosecuted in federal court for his actions related to her case,” he said.
The Review-Journal has previously reported Boruchowitz’s prior history of investigations by state officials and the FBI that found questionable actions. In 2013, Nevada Department of Safety investigators found that Boruchowitz was using videos of adult Nye County residents having sex to hold “pornography matinees” at work, and the FBI in 2015 found that Boruchowitz was having an “inappropriate relationship” with a probationer.
Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly, who died late last year, was told of both investigations but only imposed light discipline.
A trial in Boruchowitz’s criminal case is currently scheduled for June.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.