‘Sad and disappointed’: Former LVMPD Foundation director accused of taking nearly $350K

Police have accused the former director of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation of funneling almost $350,000 from the foundation to another charity, then paying himself $182,000.

Thomas Kovach, the foundation’s former executive director, faces 19 theft charges.

In a document filed with the Las Vegas Justice Court this week, the Metropolitan Police Department alleged that between April 2018 and November 2022, Kovach diverted foundation funds to Project REAL, an organization for whom he also acted as executive director.

Kovach knew he was supposed to ask the foundation’s board for permission but didn’t do so, according to the police report. Metro said he hid the payments by causing them to be miscoded in the foundation’s accounting system and failing to appropriately classify them in the foundation’s tax documents.

Dominic Gentile, Kovach’s lawyer, told the Review-Journal that he does not contest that money was paid from the foundation to Project REAL and that part of the money was transferred to Kovach, but he said his client earned the money paid to him and that the transactions were “100 percent legal.”

The foundation supports Metro’s community engagement, officer training and equipment and technology efforts. Project REAL works to educate students about the law.

Current LVMPD Foundation Executive Director Karen Marben, who started in September 2023 after Kovach left, said the foundation has implemented new financial safeguards, including finance and audit committees.

“Respecting donor intent is very important to me, and I want to make sure that our donors know that I am 100 percent committed that every dollar they invest in our organization is going to further our mission and to support Metro and that the controls we’ve put in place are going to prevent this from ever happening again,” she said.

“We want to regain trust through accountability and openness,” she added.

After Marben began working at the foundation, she “found questionable activities and expenditures” under Kovach’s tenure, including money provided to Project REAL and contributions to other nonprofits with which Kovach was involved, according to the police report.

Marben wanted to understand if the payments to Project REAL were part of a long-term contractual relationship that she needed to plan for as she built the foundation’s 2024 budget, she told the Review-Journal.

“When I reached out to the board, they had no knowledge whatsoever of those transactions and said that they had not been approved,” she said.

The board decided to inform Sheriff Kevin McMahill, she said.

Marben said she thought Kovach left the foundation in the spring of 2023 but could not comment on whether he resigned or was fired. A foundation employee told police Kovach was fired by the board, according to the report.

When Project REAL got large donations, Kovach kept most of the money for his salary, current Project REAL director Mike Kamer told police, according to the report.

Kamer told police he used his savings to keep the organization afloat, but Kovach still paid donated funds to himself. Project REAL is $115,000 in debt, he said, according to Metro.

A former Project REAL employee told police Kovach got paid $9,000 a month for 20 hours of work a week, the report said.

Kamer told the Review-Journal his organization is happy to participate in the investigation.

Marben said she has met or spoken with more than 20 of the LVMPD Foundation’s largest donors in recent days. All “expressed their continued support,” she said.

“The community believes in this foundation,” she said. “They believe in the work that we are doing. And everybody is very sad and disappointed about these allegations.”