Las Vegas police foundation employees say ex-director accused of theft got ‘very upset’ about money

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The former executive director of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department Foundation allegedly moved donations to a second nonprofit, took hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself, and got “very upset” when his staff would ask him about money, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained Wednesday.

Thomas Kovach Jr. faces 19 theft charges, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported Tuesday. All the charges are felonies and range in value from $3,500 to $100,000. 8 News Now was not naming a second person named in court documents as that person was not charged with a crime.

According to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained, Metro police began their investigation in October 2023 after two current LVMPD Foundation employees – executive director Karen Marben and a board member — “found questionable activities and expenditures” when reviewing Kovach’s tenure.

“Marben was told from The Foundation staff they believed Kovach and [another person] were misusing funds for the past several years,” police wrote in the documents. “Marben was not able to get specific references to the misuse of funds at the time of the conversations. Marben stated she was told by all members besides Kovach and [the other person] were blocked out of their accounting system, which were identified as QuickBooks and Sage.”

Kovach allegedly “misused his position as executive director” to move the nearly $350,000 – across 19 different payments — to a second organization, Project Real. On its website, Project Real’s leadership said the nonprofit “[guides] students in understanding their constitutional rights, the intricacies of laws that shape daily life, and the value of lives rich with civic engagement.”

According to Metro investigators, money at the LVMPD Foundation is divided into subaccounts for different causes: “When money was donated to the Foundation, the recipient unit within Metro had their own sub-account in the accounting system and donations were documented within the specific sub-account,” documents said. “All funds went into a single bank account on which Kovach was a signer.”

The payments to Project Real were classified using eight different subaccounts, police said.

“These payments were hidden within other expense categories and gave the appearance the funds were spent on or provided to LVMPD entities or used to cover Foundation fundraising expenses,” documents said.

In May, a Metro detective and a financial analyst interviewed another LVMPD Foundation employee.

“[She] stated her relationship with Kovach was frustrating,” documents said. “When she started with The Foundation, she was being contacted by captains with LVMPD, which were upset because they were not getting the money, which was approved by The Foundation. Captains would attempt to call [an employee] and would not hear from her. In return, they would contact [her] for answers. When [she] would speak to them, Kovach would get upset and tell her to have them contact him and only him.”

That same person told police The Foundation was “lacking money” due to the funding of Metro’s new $25 million training center.

Another employee told detectives that in 2022, vendors started calling asking for their money, documents said. When the employee inquired about the money, Kovach reportedly said “he would handle the situation.”

“[One employee] stated if you ever asked Kovach about money, he would get very upset and shut down the conversation,” documents said. Other employees also noticed LVMPD Foundation money getting donated to out-of-foundation causes.

According to Project Real’s executive director, “Kovach would take most of the money for his salary as they did not have money in the bank account,” the documents said. “[W]hen they received donations, Kovach would pay himself instead of paying [the executive director] back.”

A Foundation executive board member told police he became involved in reference to $300,000 raised for a conference.

“When executive staff could not get ahold of Kovach, they were told The Foundation was taking 10 percent for administration fees,” documents said. “While looking over the balances and accounts it was believed that Kovach was misappropriated funds from The Foundation. It was decided to fire Kovach from The Foundation.”

According to detectives, when LVMPD would reach out to Kovach and another employee about money in subaccounts, Kovach and the employee would not respond.

“Kovach and [the other employee] would ignore them and not give them any,” documents said. “[The other employee] and Kovach were always moving money from sub-accounts to different sub-accounts. Kovach and [the other employee] were very sneaky and secretive with what was going on with The Foundation.”

In all, Metro detectives suspect Kovach took more than $182,000 of the nearly $350,000 transferred to Project Real, documents said. From 2018 to 2022, Kovach received $600,000 from Project Real. The nonprofit itself received about $1 million during the same time.

Prosecutors issued a summons for Kovach’s arrest on Monday, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported. He was not due to appear in court until Oct. 28.

“The LVMPD Foundation is fully cooperating with Metro and their investigation of this matter,” Karen Marben, the current executive director of the foundation, said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to our mission and the community we serve.”

In August, police searched Kovach’s Henderson home, seizing electronics and other items, they said.

An attorney listed for Kovach did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com .

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