The Nevada Division of Investigation is trying to figure out what happened to weapons and drugs missing from a Fallon evidence locker, but to solve that mystery they may delay a separate, unrelated probe involving one of the state’s top elected officials: Lieutenant Governor Brian Krolicki.

Taking office in January of last year, the Lieutenant Governor has been serving under a cloud almost from the beginning. His successor, Kate Marshall, says she discovered Krolicki had improperly used state funds to promote the Nevada College Savings Plan rather than money from the private firm administering the program.

The promotion included TV ads prominently featuring Krolicki as he was preparing to run for another office. Marshall also complained files in the treasurers office had been purged, documents shredded as Krolicki moved on to his new job.

The attorney general's office began the funding investigation, but soon both issues were being handled by the Nevada Division of Investigations.

Krolicki's attorney, Kent Robison, says his client has been cooperating as the investigation has plodded along. “Each time we've asked what do we need to do to bring this to a close. They've told us we can't give you a deadline.”

One of the people giving Robison and his client that answer, in fact the man overseeing the investigation, John Drew, is no longer on the case.

The new complication involves an unmarked building in Fallon. Inside an NDI evidence locker a good deal of evidence is unaccounted for. Sources tell us as many as 96 weapons and quantities of drugs were signed in, but there's no record of them being signed out.
Outgoing Director of Public Safety Phil Galeoto launched an internal investigation, but then resigned amid grumbling within the department he had botched the probe.

His replacement Jerry Hafen's first move was to put the man administering the locker on administrative leave while things are ironed out. That man is John Drew, the same John Drew who has been overseeing the investigation into the Lieutenant Governor.

With Drew sitting on the sidelines the Krolicki case also stalled. Robison says that would be unfair, “He's had this hanging over his head and he has a private life, a professional life and a political life and it's just this black cloud hanging over him. It's time to get it done."

Hafen, the new Public Safety Director, was unavailable for comment. A spokesman said the Krolicki case was not being put on hold. Hafen, however, is expecting to meet with the Attorney General to find out how his agency got the case in the first place and to figure out where to go from here.

The reason NDI is investigating is due to the conflict the Attorney General would have investigating the case. The AG's office is in effect representing the executive branch including the Treasurer's office and the Lieutenant Governor. Once this case became more than an audit, they were in the position of investigating someone they were charged with representing.

When conflicts are an issue, it's not uncommon for the Division of Investigations to be called in. No one anticipated the other unrelated investigation possibly complicating matters.

As far as the missing evidence is concerned, the District Attorney in Fallon says they've had no missing evidence issues in cases and he says other agencies there routinely destroy weapons once they are no longer needed. The same may have happened to these guns. There's just no record of it.