Nonprofit organization: ‘Betrayal’ after former director accused of embezzling money from police foundation

A spokesman for a Las Vegas-based nonprofit that works to educate children about the law said the organization feels a “sense of betrayal” now that its former executive director has been charged with theft, accusing him of embezzling money from a police foundation he also headed.

In a press release Friday, Mike Kamer, current executive director of Project REAL, claimed that the organization was a victim of its former executive director, Thomas Kovach, who was also the former executive director of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation.

Earlier this week, police accused Kovach of funneling nearly $350,000 from the foundation to Project REAL and paying himself $182,000. Kamer said Kovach worked for Project REAL from December 2015 until July 2023, when he resigned. Police said Kovach diverted payments without the foundation's permission between April 2018 and November 2022, often hiding and miscoding payments in its accounting system.

Kovach is accused of 19 counts of theft.

The Police Foundation funds officer training, equipment and technology efforts, while Project REAL is a Nevada-based youth outreach program.

“We are devastated that when Project REAL comes up this week, it will be about decisions Kovach made – not our work,” the statement said. “Kovach is not Project REAL. Project REAL is the 18,000 students we served during the 2023-2024 school year… Project REAL is the countless judges, lawyers, business owners and community members who support us.”

Dominic Gentile, Kovach's attorney, told the Review-Journal he did not dispute that money was paid from the foundation to Project REAL and that some of the money was transferred to Kovach. He said his client earned the money paid to him and the transactions were “100 percent legal.”

According to court documents, Kamer told police around the time of the alleged theft that he was using personal savings to keep Project REAL afloat because he believed it was on the verge of success. He also said he did not want other employees to know about the organization's finances and said they would look for employment elsewhere if they sensed trouble.

In addition, according to police, Kamer reported frustrating interactions with Kovach when he mentioned the organization's shortcomings. During an interview with Metro investigators, Kamer mentioned that Project REAL was $115,000 in debt.

In an interview with the Review-Journal, Kamer said that Kovach's departure from Project REAL was recorded as a resignation in the board meeting minutes, but no reason for his departure was given.