City official questions bid

The City of Las Vegas Housing Authority Commission is poised to award a bid for a fencing project to a company with ties to a man who has been charged with fraud, embezzlement, forgery and identity theft.

The bid is for a fencing project on New Mexico Avenue and Church Street. Bids for the project were opened on Nov. 15, and Xtreme Builders Construction LLC. had the lowest one.

Xtreme Builders bid was submitted by Shawn Montoya, a former Las Vegas police officer arrested in late August for allegedly using a former employer’s credit card to make two large purchases and for allegedly forging an insurance document belonging to that same employer. He is also accused of forging a contractor’s license belonging to another former employer in order to establish a fake construction company.

While out on bond in that case, he racked up additional criminal charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon involving a household member, harassment and reckless driving. Online court records state that that criminal case stems from a Nov. 3 incident.

Montoya is an employee of Xtreme Builders and has no ownership interest in the company. Also it’s worth noting that those charges are merely accusations at this point; he hasn’t been convicted.

Montoya told the Optic on Tuesday that it’s unfair that the company he now works for is in the limelight for his legal troubles.

The city Housing Authority Board of Commissioners discussed the bid at its meeting last week.

City Housing Director Robert Pacheco recommended that Xtreme Builders be awarded the bid, prompting Commissioner Tonita Gurule-Giron to raise concerns, given the criminal charges pending against Montoya and the fact that he submitted the bid on Xtreme Builders’ behalf. She asked City Manager Timothy Dodge whether he was comfortable with the situation, and Dodge responded that that was irrelevant.

Dodge told the housing commission that he has no reason to recommend that the company not get the bid, given that it was the lowest bidder. Dodge said Xtreme Builders’ bid came in at about $26,000, not including taxes, while two other bidders came in over $40,000.

Dodge noted that Montoya hasn’t been convicted in the case.

The commission, whose members include the mayor and all four city councilors, ended up delaying a vote on awarding the bid because the housing authority failed to provide the supporting documentation on the bids submitted.

Dodge acknowledged  that he had his own concerns about the bid, prompting him to call the company’s owner, Toby Sanchez Sr., and the supplier the company planned to use for the project.

Dodge said everything checked out. He said the company’s bid included a little more than $18,000 for materials and around $6,000 for labor.

Dodge said the housing commission’s decision to pull the item off the agenda because of a lack of supporting documentation would likely result in a one-month delay in the fencing project.

Sanchez told the Optic on Tuesday that Xtreme Builders’ is owned solely by him and his wife and that Montoya has worked for his company for only three months. He said the company has been established for seven years.

Sanchez said that Montoya does office work for him, including finding bids and talking to potential suppliers about pricing. But he stressed that everything goes through him.
Montoya resigned from the city police department in March 2008.

He made headlines in 2009 when he was accused of double-dipping while working for the city and taking gas for personal use. He was charged with one count of fraud and 19 counts of forgery in connection with his work for the city.

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to one count each of fraud and filing a false claim, both fourth-degree felonies. He was given probation, ordered to do community service and required to pay full restitution to the police department and to an insurance company that he defrauded.

Online court records indicate that Montoya received a conditional discharge on those charges, meaning that because he served his probation and stayed out of trouble during that period, the charges were officially dismissed.