Las Vegas police sergeant to serve minimum of 4 years in prison for charges in 3 separate cases

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A suspended Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sergeant accused of abusing his police powers and possessing child sex abuse material has been sentenced to serve four to 10 years in prison.

Kevin Menon and his defense team inked a deal with prosecutors in late May in which Menon agreed to plead guilty to eight of the charges he faced in three separate criminal cases.

VIDEO | Darcy Spears reports the latest on sentencing of Las Vegas police sergeant

We've followed the ups and downs of this case since Menon was first arrested in August 2024. Revelations in court documents led to questions about LVMPD officers' use of a secret messaging app called Signal — a concern we brought directly to Sheriff Kevin McMahill.

Menon has raised his own concerns through the course of the case. He claims his arrest and prosecution came in retaliation for reporting racist text messages and memes, as well as filing whistleblower complaints with LVMPD's Internal Affairs.

WATCH | Darcy Spears breaks down the allegations raised by Menon and LVMPD's response:

Initially, Menon was accused of abusing his police powers by allegedly orchestrating arrests on the Las Vegas Strip. We followed up with a man who reached out to us after seeing our reporting to share his personal experience of being arrested by Menon.

In his sentencing hearing Monday morning, Menon read from a prepared statement, saying, "I wanted to protect the community, to stand for something righteous and worthy. To protect them and my brothers from what is evil and wrong in the world. And now, the very things from which I tried to protect the community and my officers have been hung around my neck."

Judge Ron Israel responded, saying, "I certainly acknowledge that at one point Mr. Menon was an asset to the community. Somehow, he went off the rails." To Menon, he said, "You're on video doing things that are clearly--to be kind--inappropriate, and illegal. The community--and I'm talking throughout the country--is often skeptical of police, and now Mr. Menon has entrenched that skepticism by doing what he did."

The oppression charges were only the first arrest for Kevin Menon. Then came additional charges when investigators searched Menon's home and found child sex abuse material on his electronic devices, according to court documents previously obtained by Channel 13.

"Just by viewing and downloading creates a product that causes--in this case--people in Russia to take horrific advantage of children," Judge Israel said.

Menon was hit with his third criminal case when investigators searched his home again and claimed to find a hidden camera in his bathroom which recorded numerous videos of his wife and sister-in-law from a vent above the toilet.

"Kevin has only ever been my protector," Sister-in-law Tamara Rusell said during Monday's sentencing hearing.

"This is supposed to be a victim impact statement, but I am not a victim. I was simply not believed." Russell said.

Natasha Menon, who said she's been married to her husband for 10 years, added to that in her victim impact statement, calling the last year one of devastation, pain and torture for the Menon family.

"After his third arrest, I learned from the news media that the LVMPD came into my home, reviewed private camera footage, and decided that they could create criminal charges from it. I am not a victim of my husband. I am a victim of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and their divisive tactics used to influence the public so that innocent until proven guilty is nearly impossible."

She told the judge her husband did not commit the crimes he's accused of, saying he pleaded guilty in order to hopefully allow for some semblance of a future.

"He deserves so much better but when you're being lynched, you must do whatever it takes to loosen the noose."

We caught up with Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner after the hearing.

"To the very end he has continued to lie about all of the things he did to people in our community of color, his own family, and what he did in his private time on the internet," Hamner said. "He and his family sit and lie and take no responsibility for what they did."

"Why do you believe his family is lying?" asked 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears.

"They love him," Hamner said. "And the reality is, when you're in our business, this happens all the time in domestic situations."

Defense Attorney Robert Draskovich said by pleading guilty, his client did accept responsibility.

"He was a decorated police officer. He had an exemplary career with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Today it was clear that the family felt that they had been somewhat targeted. Obviously the state's position is that they followed the evidence."

Had it gone to trial, Draskovich said it would have been difficult to defend, "Specifically concerning the child porn counts. Obviously the evidence is what it is."

Menon risked serving a minimum of 50 years on the child porn charges alone. Instead, through the plea deal that Judge Israel reluctantly accepted, he'll serve four to 10 years for all three cases combined. We're told Menon will likely serve his time out of state because as a former Las Vegas cop, his lawyers say he'd be targeted by other inmates if he stayed in a Nevada prison.

Menon pleaded guilty to four charges in his police powers case, three counts of possessing child sex abuse material in the second case, and one count of capturing the private area of another in the final case. He agreed to serve four to 10 years in prison and to register as a sex offender.

PLEA DEAL | Watch as Robert Draskovich, one of Menon's attorneys, explains the plea agreement: