LAS VEGAS (AP) - North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee said Wednesday he did nothing wrong asking city police to remove what he thought were images of child pornography from his tablet computer, and a police report being made public will prove it.
Lee told The Associated Press he didn’t want to comment further until he had a chance to view the document he obtained for the first time a little before noon. He said he intended to issue a statement later in the day.
“I emphatically deny all allegations,” Lee said.
Lee told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week the images began popping up on his iPad after someone sent him an email, and he asked police in October to clear them because he worried they showed children being harmed.
A detective found browser links on Lee’s tablet to at least one website displaying possible child pornography originating from another country, the newspaper said. But the investigation ended after one day because the detective couldn’t immediately verify the age or identify the location of the children, and Lee’s other computer devices weren’t examined.
Officer Aaron Patty, a North Las Vegas police spokesman, said Wednesday that new city Police Chief Alexander Perez asked the FBI in Las Vegas to review the detective’s report, but didn’t expect a new investigation.
“We’re requesting that they take a look at the case and decide where to go from there,” Patty said.
Patty had said Tuesday that federal involvement prevented the police department from making the investigative report public.
FBI Las Vegas spokeswoman Bridget Pappas declined Wednesday to comment.
The newspaper report about the police investigation came a day after Joseph Chronister retired as North Las Vegas police chief and Perez, his former assistant chief, was promoted.
Chronister, who retired after more than 25 years in the department, has told reporters the police investigation should have been more thorough and he should have taken its findings to the Clark County district attorney.
Attempts by the AP to reach Chronister weren’t immediately successful.
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