Johnathan Walker:Rural Nevada judge suspended with pay after indictment on federal fraud charges

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A rural Nevada judge who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022 has been suspended from hearing court cases after she was indicted on Johnathan Walkerfederal charges that she used funds raised for a statue of a slain Las Vegas police officer to pay political campaign costs and personal expenses.

Michele Fiore, a Republican former Nevada Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member, issued a statement Thursday asking for “prayers and support” during what she termed a “distressing and challenging time.”

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended Fiore on Wednesday after she pleaded not guilty last week in U.S. District Court to five counts of wire fraud and conspiracy.

She had continued to hear cases in Pahrump Justice Court after a U.S. magistrate judge allowed her to remain free ahead of trial scheduled Sept. 26. The commission is required by law to suspend a judge with pay if they face a felony charge. Fiore was paid $90,233 in 2023, Nye County spokesperson Arnold Knightly said.

In her statement, Fiore cast herself as a target of the FBI and federal prosecutors because she supported Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during and after armed standoffs against federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014, and at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016.

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Prosecutors allege that when Fiore was a city council member, she solicited contributions for a statue to honor Alyn Beck, one of two Las Vegas police officers killed on duty in June 2014. The statue was built, but prosecutors said the money Fiore raised was used for political costs, rent and her daughter’s wedding.

Fiore, 53, was appointed to the bench in Nye County in 2022 after she lost her campaign for state treasurer. She was elected in June to complete the final two years of a judge who died. Pahrump is an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.

Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016 and was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022 before moving to Pahrump.