LYON COUNTY SHERIFF REFUSES TO ACCOUNT FOR 36 HR DELAY IN NAOMI IROIN’S CASE

April 9, 2022

Rob Lauer Political Reporter

The family of murder victim Naomi Irion scolded the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office for their “delayed response to his sister’s initial disappearance.” Even though the family reported Naomi’s disappearance right away on March 12, 2022, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office took another 3 days to “find her car 1 mile away from the Walmart where she was abducted from. The car clearly had signs of violence and foul play according to the Lyon County sheriff’s Office.

Naomi’s brother, Casey Valley held a press conference last week blasting the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office:

“I called at 9:30 p.m. on that Sunday, I believe it was the 13th, I basically left a message with the deputy and dispatch said that the deputy would come by my house and take a report. That did not occur. So, that deputy called me at around 11:23 p.m. and then he said something to the effect of ‘lets see what happens tomorrow”

The Irion family said at the press conference “36 hours could have made all the difference and that a deputy lagged on filing a missing persons’ report.”

On March 31, 2022, The Rob Lauer served the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office with an open records request which stated

 “To Sheriff Hunewill,

Under the Nevada Open Records Act (NRS.239), revised under SB287 taking effect October 1, 2019, we are requesting all of the following documents in a PDF format or excel:

1. Please provide your policy guidelines and or hand book for missing persons’ reports.
2. Please provide a copy of the initial missing person’s report for Naomi Irion.
3. Please provide any documents that provide a timeline for the investigation of Naomi Irion.
4. What date did your department start their search for Naomi Irion?”

Today we received a response directly from Sheriff Hunewill refusing to provide details of how his Department handled the case and claiming it’s an ongoing investigation. But he did provide his department handbook on handling missing persons and according to Brad Pope his department failed to follow their own procedures.

 Lyon County Sheriff Hunewill

“This Office cannot provide any information related to requests 2, 3 and 4 in your letter dated March 31, 2022. These requests are related to an ongoing criminal investigation and pending criminal case”

Candidate for Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope told the me today,

“If the agency had responded to the initial missing persons’ report in accordance with our policies and procedures, there possibly wouldn’t be any complaints. The absentee leadership at the highest level of our agency is one of the reasons I am a candidate for Sheriff. I’m running because I see, firsthand, the lack of accountability, the lack of any plan and the absence of a clear mission.”

Lyon County has over 75 sworn officers who protect and serve 58k people. Brad Pope is a Sargent in the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department and served there for the last 17 years.