Ex-cyber-security chief faces trial in November in fake meeting case

Nevada's former chief of cyber-security faces a trial beginning Jan. 23 on two felony counts involving expenses he submitted for a conference that never happened.

Randy Potts entered innocent pleas to the charges Monday in Carson District Court.

He was charged after a month-long investigation into a trip he took at the end of November 2005. The complaint by Attorney General's Investigator Wayne Fazzino accused Potts of submitting a falsified request for state funding to attend the third annual meeting of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center in Denver. On his return, he submitted $1,757 in expenses for the trip but, according to investigators, there was no such meeting in Denver in November 2005. The actual meeting was in April in Washington state.

Potts will face one count of theft and one of falsifying a public record. Both are category C felonies which carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Department of Information Technology Director Terry Savage has filed paperwork to terminate Potts because of the allegations.

Andre Boles, representing Potts, said when the charges were originally filed he will prove them "unfounded and bizarre."

"We do not expect him to be terminated and, as for the criminal matter, we'll see what happens when we put him in front of 12," Boles said referring to a jury trial.

Potts has been on administrative leave since the formal investigation began in March.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.