Lawrence Mower
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Copyright 2006 DR Partners d/b/a Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Authorities said Monday that they were able to identify a former California police officer as the man who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Las Vegas boy because the retired cop had flashed a badge when he was being kicked out of The Venetian a week before the assault.
The boy told police that his attacker also had shown him a badge and claimed to be a police officer when he ordered the teen to get into his black Hummer H2 on May 21.
After the molestation of the boy was publicized with a police sketch of the suspect, Venetian hotel security personnel realized that a man they had escorted off the Strip property May 15 might be the same person police were looking for, police said. The Venetian had videotapes showing that man’s face, and he turned out to be 39-year-old Shawn Michael Shelton.
Shelton had been at the hotel and had planned to check in for the night, but security officers forced him to leave within two hours of his arrival, Las Vegas police Capt. Terry Lesney said. A spokeswoman for The Venetian said Shelton was escorted off the property because he was “acting suspicious,” but she said she couldn’t elaborate further because of the investigation.
Shelton, a former sergeant with the Manhattan Beach, Calif., Police Department, was arrested Friday in Corona, Calif., after Las Vegas police contacted their counterparts there and asked them to be on the look out for him. Several badges were found in the back of the H2 that Shelton was driving, Lesney said. Police haven’t determined whether the badges were real or fake, Lesney said. Fake badges can be purchased on the Internet.
Shelton remained jailed in Riverside, Calif., pending extradition to Las Vegas on charges of sexual assault and kidnapping. Before he was photographed for his booking mug shot, his shirt was taken by police as potential evidence in the case, police said.
Shelton allegedly handcuffed and sexually assaulted the Las Vegas boy for about an hour in a desert area near Pecos Road and Owens Avenue. The assailant had picked the teen up from a bus stop near Desert Inn and Mojave road.
Police said he drove to a nearby parking lot, handcuffed the victim and put him in the back seat. He then drove to a desert area near Pecos Road and Owens Avenue and sexually assaulted the boy for about an hour.
Police received a call from the victim about 10 p.m. after Shelton drove away and “basically told him to go home,” Lesney said. He was taken to an area hospital for an examination but was not admitted, she said.
Shelton was in the process of relocating to Southern Nevada, and had been making frequent trips between Southern California and Las Vegas, but police are not aware of any other alleged victims of Shelton in the valley and don’t expect to find any, Lesney said.
The black Hummer H2 bearing California license plates Shelton was driving was borrowed from a relative, Lesney said. She wouldn’t identify the family member because of privacy issues.
Shelton previously has been accused of impersonating a police officer. He was arrested in December for impersonating an officer in Ventura County, Calif.
He had left the Manhattan Beach Police Department in 2002 after filing a sexual harassment suit against the Southern California city and its police chief. In the lawsuit, he alleged that he had been harassed because he is a homosexual.
In Las Vegas, Shelton doesn’t currently face a charge of impersonating a police officer, but the district attorney’s office has the option of adding that charge, Lesney said.
May 31, 2006