Attorney General Masto Announces Taxicab Authority Officer to Stand Trial in Privacy Case


July 9, 2014

Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today that indicted Taxicab Authority Officer Joseph Morgan, 29, of Las Vegas, will proceed to trial on a felony charge involving accusations that he illegally recorded a private conversation between supervisors in his workplace.

    Morgan is charged with unauthorized surreptitious intrusion of privacy by listening device after District Court Judge Jessie Walsh denied Morgan’s motion to dismiss the entire indictment. Judge Walsh dismissed a charge of interception of wire communication, also a felony.

      Morgan was indicted by the Clark County grand jury in January 2014 after a secret recording surfaced in early 2013, in which Taxicab Authority supervisors were heard having a private conversation about their workplace. Testimony before the grand jury revealed that Morgan recorded the conversation using a smartphone, paid to have the recording enhanced, and recruited an out-of-state associate to create a fictitious email account which was used to disseminate the recording to numerous Taxicab Authority employees and other individuals. The individuals who were recorded denied consenting to or even knowing about the recording until they received copies of the email.

        Morgan’s trial is currently scheduled for Nov. 10 before Judge Walsh. The Attorney General will decide whether to appeal the dismissed count once the court’s written order is entered.

          Morgan is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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