The once high-profile case of Tony Dane, a Republican political operative accused of legislative extortion, ended quietly in late January.
Dane, 63, was indicted in 2016 on counts of extortion, illegal wiretapping, perjury and filing a false document. Prosecutors said at the time that he had orchestrated a scheme between December 2014 and January 2015 to make then-Assemblyman Chris Edwards, R-Las Vegas, change his speaker vote.
Dane’s speaker pick was Elko Republican Assemblyman John Ellison, who is now a state senator and did not respond to a request for comment. Dane wiretapped calls between Edwards and other Republicans through his robocalling business, authorities said.
On Jan. 22, Dane pleaded guilty to perjury in an Alford plea, meaning he admitted only that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. The plea stemmed from his filing of a false contribution and expense report for his political action committee with the Nevada secretary of state’s office.
The deal specified that the defense and prosecution would recommend probation. District Judge Tierra Jones gave him a 12- to 30-month suspended sentence, a 180-day jail sentence with 180 days credit for time served, and up to a day of probation, according to court records.
Defense attorney Michael Sanft said the allegations against Dane were just “typical political stuff.”
The case was “sensational” at the time the allegations were revealed because the people involved were politically relevant, but that changed, Sanft said.
“He comes back to Nevada and no one cares,” Sanft said. “Barely anyone remembers the case.”
Involuntary manslaughter case
Dane is not a free man, though.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a 2017 crash in Virginia, where a food truck he operated struck a station wagon and killed Erin Kaplan, 39, a mother of three, according to Loudoun Circuit Court records and an Associated Press report.
His release is scheduled for July 8, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Edwards, who now lives in Texas, said the speaker election at the time of the allegations “was extremely convoluted.”
“There was a whole lot of backroom nonsense that just kind of was disruptive and destructive (during) that period, when we should have been figuring out what we were going to do for the people,” he said.
Former Assemblywoman Michele Fiore’s faction wanted to replace Hambrick for speaker and had decided Edwards was the swing vote, he said. Fiore, who was found guilty in October of defrauding donors for a statue of a fallen police officer, did not respond to a request for comment.
Edwards said Dane contacted him and said people wanted to remove him because of his vote for Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, who ultimately became speaker. Hambrick died in November.
Edwards “contacted the police to let them know that there was something amiss,” and that when he and Dane met, the meeting was recorded, Edwards said.
‘Destroy my political career’
“He was claiming that a group of very wealthy Republicans were hiring him to essentially destroy me” if Edwards voted for Hambrick, Edwards said. “He was saying that they wanted me to vote for Ellison instead and if I didn’t, they were going to take a whole bunch of money and just destroy my political career.”
Police affidavits said Dane told Edwards someone was willing to sign an affidavit saying that, in exchange for voting against Hambrick, Edwards asked for a $10,000 bribe.
If Edwards voted the “right way,” Dane said he could “bury it,” according to police.
Edwards said he never solicited any bribe — and that he wishes Dane had received time behind bars in the Nevada case.
“He should still have gotten some time, even if it was going to be served concurrently, simply to make the point that people cannot go around committing political extortion and perjury and all the other nonsense,” Edwards said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.