Dario Herrera (born June 27, 1973) is a former Democratic politician from

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Herrera was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party until his defeat for election to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in 2002 and his subsequent convictions on federal public corruption charges.

Political career

Herrera grew up in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 1991 to attend the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. Herrera began his political career in 1994 as campaign coordinator for Nevada Gov. Bob Miller. At the age of 23 Herrera was elected to the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year ...

in 1996 and then to the

Clark County Commission The Clark County Commission is the governmental organization that governs and runs Clark County, Nevada, providing services to the unincorporated areas. Its offices are located at the Clark County Government Center in Downtown Las Vegas. The commi ...

two years later. During this period he was told by then-

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succe ...

Henry Cisneros Henry Gabriel Cisneros (born June 11, 1947) is an American politician and businessman. He served as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 1981 to 1989, the second Latino mayor of a major American city and the city's first since 1842 (when Juan ...

that he was a "star" and "going places."THE PLAYERS: Dario Herrera
/ref> In 2002 Herrera won the Democratic nomination in the newly created Nevada 3rd Congressional District. However during the campaign it was revealed that Herrera received a $50,000 contract from the Las Vegas Housing Authority "to do public relations work that the authority board members never knew about." Herrera lost the election to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

state Sen.

Jon Porter Jonathan Christopher "Jon" Porter (born May 16, 1955) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, the first representative elected from the 3rd Congressional District of Nevada. He ...

"Operation G-Sting" involvement and conviction

Along with former Clark County commissioners

Erin Kenny Erin Leigh Callin Kenny (born December 21, 1960) is a former Democratic politician from Nevada. Kenny earned her law degree on May 17, 2002, from William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She subsequently failed the Neva ...

Mary Kincaid-Chauncey Mary J. Kincaid-Chauncey is a former Democratic politician from Nevada. Kincaid-Chauncey served on the Clark County Commission until she was defeated for reelection and subsequently convicted of federal corruption charges. Political career Kinc ...

, and several other local elected officials, Herrera became embroiled in a corruption investigation involving a Las Vegas strip club which became known as

Operation G-Sting Operation G-Sting, also called Strippergate, and referencing the G-String costume often worn by strippers and showgirls, was an FBI investigation into bribes and unreported campaign contributions taken by Clark County Commissioners in Clark County, ...

. In May 2006 Herrera was convicted of 17 counts of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to fraud, defraud another, and are Federal crime in the United States, federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the ...

and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

stemming from charges that he and the other officials "used their public offices to further the interests of Michael Galardi, a strip club owner in Las Vegas. They solicited and accepted money, property, and services directly from Galardi and through co-defendant Lance Malone, another former county commissioner. The evidence demonstrated that members of the conspiracy concealed the payments they received from Galardi and failed to disclose the payments as required by law and their fiduciary duties as county commissioners." In August 2006 Herrera was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison, fined $15,000 and ordered to forfeit $60,000 in assets. Herrera declined to appeal his convictions. In January 2007 Herrera began serving his sentence at the

Florence Federal Correctional Complex The Federal Correctional Complex, Florence (FCC Florence) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consis ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Herrera's sentence was originally scheduled to end in early 2011. Herrera was released in the spring of 2009 and is back working for the Loft 5 condo project in Las Vegas.Dario Herrera, Erin Kenny returning to Las Vegas after stays in prison
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Dario 1973 births Living people People from the Las Vegas Valley Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Nevada Democratic Party members of the Nevada Assembly Clark County, Nevada commissioners Politicians convicted of extortion under color of official right Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud Nevada politicians convicted of crimes