Nevada attorney general's chief investigator fired

CARSON CITY - The Nevada attorney general's chief investigator, who didn't undergo criminal background checks when she was first hired and later promoted, has left the office after failing to disclose a previous arrest record, authorities say.

"As of Monday, she was no longer employed with the office," Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Friday, adding that he couldn't comment further about the investigator, Linda Honey, because it's a personnel matter.

An acquaintance forwarded a request for comment to Honey, who wasn't immediately available. Her home phone is unlisted.

Honey was hired under former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa four years ago and promoted to chief investigator by Sandoval. He started criminal background checks on new employees after taking office in 2002, but Honey wasn't subjected to one at the time of her promotion.

Top staffers in the attorney general's office, who declined to be named, said Honey was fired for not disclosing that she pleaded no contest to a felony, writing bad checks, in 1992 in Northern California. They added the felony charge was reduced and dismissed after Honey served a brief jail sentence.

As chief investigator, Honey sat in on one interview by others in her office questioning state Controller Kathy Augustine. The office's probe into Augustine resulted in her recent impeachment trial in the state Senate.

Before joining the attorney general's office, Honey worked for the state's juvenile probation division, and was cross-deputized with the U.S. marshal's office, the attorney general's staffers said.