STEVEN HOLTEN'S LETTER TO THE SPARKS, NEVADA POLICE DEPT.

April 8, 2011

A Statement of Personal Opinion and Personal Observation

Dear Sgt. Leary, Sparks Police Department:

Last year your Suppression Team arrested me and I was charged with a single count of disorderly conduct when you were conducting a sex sting at Coney Island Park. If you have checked with your DA recently, the disorderly conduct charge was reduced to disturbing the peace. Hardly what you and your department probably expected as the outcome. Your departments action towards me on that day bordered on entrapment in my opinion. My intention is not to engage in a debate over the different legal aspects of police entrapment or my priors case(s) with your department.   My prior arrest in the general vicinity in 2006 while I was on federal probation, which resulted in a conviction of indecent exposure and a return to federal prison on a violation,  is being reviewed by an attorney as we speak. This review was prompted when another attorney began to investigate and review police reports at my request. This 2006 arrest by Sparks PD remains under review by my attorney. My arrest in this last sex sting should have never of occurred;  and in my opinion your detectives used poor judgment. You only ran this sting operation after numerous complaints but you do nothing to police these parks at other times when other illegal activity is occurring. I have talked to business owners personally in this area that border the park area. They tell me that often times no police patrols can been seen for long periods of time in this area or in the park. Your departments lust for media attention is obvious which occurs after such police operations such as this one. This indicates to me Sparks PD is eager for positive media when the perception is that crime is out-of-control in Sparks. Sitting in a park drinking a soda in an area that is freely accessible by all is not a crime. The businesses in the area have done nothing to secure their property around this area, nor has the City of Sparks done anything to mark trails, trim trees, erect proper signage in this park and others, to properly inform us the “public” who use these facilities. Your decoy approached me first when I was doing nothing illegal but enjoying the park, to illicit and engage me in misleading conversation. The decision to arrest me and subsequent publicity resulted in numerous threats by e-mail to me personally and in public. These have all been documented. Some erroneous; some real. It is easy for anyone such as myself in hindsight to look at a situation and make observations after the fact. This is exactly what I’m doing. This statement by me is not to be perceived as any form of threat to you, your department, or anyone else. It is a personal statement of how I view the circumstances and not a dictation to you, how to conduct, second guess a police operation, a department, or any aspects of what decisions law enforcement makes. I will continue to use the parks in Sparks alone or with friends for recreation purposes.  I will always identify my existence as a skinhead.  If I have any contact with Sparks P.D. in the future that results in a false arrest, harassment, inappropriate questioning about my past or present affiliations, I will sue the Department and the personnel involved.   I have the resources to do so.

Steven Holten