Transportation agency fills posts left open by scandal

By Arthur Kane Las Vegas Review-Journal

8 years ago

An anonymous tipster sent these print outs from a website that tracks criminal records to a Nevada Transportation Authority deputy commissioner revealing a state transportation officer’s DUI history. That letter was sent two months before the officer crashed a state vehicle. David Guzman/Las Vegas Review-Journal @DavidGuzman1985

State Transportation Authority supervisor Robert Reasoner had three previous drunken driving arrests, including the one that resulted in this mug shot, before crashing a state vehicle in a suspected impaired driving incident in January. (Washoe County Sheriff’s Office)

State officials filled two Nevada Transportation Authority positions that were vacated as a result of a scandal involving an officer who had an extensive drunken driving history.

Jeremy Jones, the former police chief of Edgerton, Ohio, retired in March and moved to Henderson. He will fill the authority chief’s job previously held by Michael Bradford, who was fired after he failed to run background checks on an NTA officer with three DUI arrests.

Jennifer DeRose, a deputy administrator at the Nevada Taxicab Authority, will fill the transportation authority deputy commissioner job left open when Christopher Schneider was fired as part of the same scandal.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal broke the story of authority supervisor Robert Reasoner’s repeated DUI arrests after he crashed a state vehicle and fled the scene. The stories showed Bradford and Schneider were warned about Reasoner’s background but did not act until after the Jan. 5 crash.

Contact Arthur Kane at akane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ArthurMKane on Twitter.