A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and current Nye County, Nevada justice of the peace for her scheme to defraud donors to a charity to memorialize police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.According to the indictment, Michele Fiore, 53, of Pahrump, Nevada—a then-Las Vegas city councilwoman—solicited donations to build a statue honoring Las Vegas police officers who were killed in the line of duty.
Fiore allegedly promised donors that "100% of the contributions" would be used towards the creation of this statue.
However, Fiore did not use any of the tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations for the statue for fallen officers, and instead converted the money to her personal use.
The donations were used to pay her political fundraising bills and rent, and were transferred to family members, including to pay for her daughter's wedding.
Fiore is charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
Fiore was appointed justice of the peace for Nye County in December 2022 after her failed campaign for state treasurer. She previously represented Ward 6 on the Las Vegas City Council from 2017 to 2022.
During her time on the council, Fiore was appointed mayor pro tem but resigned after facing backlash over accusations that she made racially-charged comments during a Clark County Republican Convention.
She also faced a failed recall effort, a Federal Election Commission complaint, and a lawsuit over a physical altercation with current Councilwoman and candidate for Las Vegas mayor, Victoria Seaman.
In 2015, Fiore volunteered to fly to Paris and personally shoot Syrian refugees in the head, "I'm OK with putting them down, blacking them out, just put a piece of brass in their ocular cavity and end their miserable life. I'm good with that."
Weeks later she earned national headlines for a Christmas card showing her entire family, including a small boy, clutching handguns and assault weapons.
In 2016, Fiore ran for the U.S. House, finishing third in the Republican primary with just over 5,000 votes.
In 2021, Fiore launched her run for Nevada governor with a campaign video in which she fired a gun at signs marking her "three shot plan" to ban vaccine mandates, ban critical race theory, and stop voter fraud.
In 2022, she ran another gun-centered ad in Palm Beach, Florida in order to draw Trump's endorsement in her bid for governor, which she did not get.