Washoe County is Doing Away with DAS - A Cover-Up Disguised as a Clean Slate

Picon ponders why Judge Scott Pearson isn’t being asked a whole lot of questions about DAS/Department of Alternate Sentencing - why is the county letting Pearson off the hook. From this July 19, 2022 Washoe County Board of Commission meeting questions should be asked of what ‘partnerships’ former Commissioner Bob Lucey was involved in with Judge Pearson - did it have something to do with DAS.

So here we are — Washoe County is preparing to dissolve its Department of Alternative Sentencing (DAS), a program once hailed as a model of innovation and rehabilitation. But as federal investigators circle, the public is left asking: where did it all go wrong — and where, exactly, is Justin Roper? And when is someone going to answer some question for residents and not hide behind an open investigation so no one can talk.

Roper, the program’s now-missing executive director, is reportedly under investigation federally. You’d think that alone would warrant a press conference or at least a few public words from the people who built this house of cards.

Yet Judge Scott Pearson, who proudly championed DAS, has gone completely silent. This is the same judge who, just a few years ago, could barely contain his enthusiasm for the program — attending commission meetings, patting himself and then-Commissioner Bob Lucey on the back for their “visionary leadership,” and showering Interim County Manager Kate Thomas with praise for “making it all work.”

Now? Nothing but crickets.

And speaking of Kate Thomas — let’s not forget that Roper reported directly to her. So how, exactly, did this unfold under her watch? With Thomas now lobbying to become the permanent county manager, residents deserve answers. What oversight was in place? What warnings were missed? And how did the county let a department fall into such disarray that dissolution is now the solution?

Today, county commissioners are considering a staff recommendation to repeal the Washoe County Code chapter that created DAS back in 2005. The plan, proposed by Chief Financial Officer Abbe Yacoben, would make the repeal effective January 1, 2026 — quietly erasing nearly two decades of a “model program” that, apparently, no one is willing to talk about anymore.

What’s worse than a scandal? A cover-up disguised as a clean slate.

Judge Pearson owes the public an explanation for the program he once boasted about. Kate Thomas owes the taxpayers a full account of how it failed on her watch. And maybe — just maybe — the Feds has had better luck tracking down Justin Roper than Washoe County seems to.