A prominent Las Vegas defense attorney and former prosecutor was arrested Monday on charges including solicitation to commit murder and sex trafficking, court records show.
Prosecutors accused Gary Guymon, who attended law school at Brigham Young University and has been a member of the Nevada bar since 1989, of solicitation to commit murder, conspiracy to commit murder, sex trafficking of an adult, perjury, coercion with force or threat of force, three counts of bribing or intimidating a witness to influence testimony and three counts of pandering, court records show.
Guymon, 62, appeared in Clark County Detention Center records on Monday morning.
This controversy is not Guymon’s first.
In 2009, he was caught on video stealing a necklace worth less than $300 from a gift shop mannequin at the Sundance Resort in Utah.
The Utah County attorney’s office charged him with a count of misdemeanor theft. He pleaded no contest to trespassing.
While working for the Clark County district attorney’s office, Guymon prosecuted high profile defendants like Margaret Rudin but left the office after his name surfaced in a public corruption case involving county commissioners and Cheetah’s strip club owner Michael Galardi.
During the public corruption trial of former County Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, Galardi testified he purchased drinks and lap dances for Guymon and arranged for him to have sex with strippers. He alleged that in return, Guymon resolved speeding tickets, DUIs and assault charges for club employees.
Guymon previously said it was true he was a Cheetah’s regular and received lap dances, but denied Galardi paid for the lap dances or that he had sex at the club.
“For Michael Galardi to say he paid for sexual favors is scoffable,” Guymon said in a 2006 interview. “I went to (Cheetah’s) like any other citizen.”
Guymon has said that he occasionally represented Galardi’s employees in traffic cases while working as a prosecutor but did not help Galardi resolve other criminal cases like DUIs and assaults. He also said he was forced out of the district attorney’s office because of allegations made by Galardi.
Starting in about 2004, he worked as a Clark County public defender, then went into private practice.
His website claimed that he “has the most jury acquittals and not guilty verdicts in the past decade in Southern Nevada.”
“For more than 25 years, Gary has worked hard to develop not only a winning trial record, but also a strong rapport with local judges, prosecutors, and attorneys,” said a biography of him on his firm’s website. “Gary’s experience, professionalism, and personal connections serve to benefit those who retain his services when they or their loved ones have been accused of committing a crime.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.