PVT FILE PHOTO Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos Advertisement

The Nevada attorney general's office has filed four charges against Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos -- two felonies and two misdemeanors.

One felony count filed Friday is for asking or receiving a bribe by an executive or administrative officer, a category C felony, punishable by from one to five years in Nevada State Prison and up to a $5,000 fine.

It is based on allegations that Liakopoulos asked Pahrump Town Board member Laurayne Murray to vote to appoint and persuade other board members to appoint his wife, Jenny Liakopoulos, curator for the Pahrump Veterans Memorial. Liakopoulos would then, in turn, agree to vote in favor of a Nye County sales tax increase.

Liakopoulos was charged with a second count of the same offense for allegedly conveying that message to Murray through former Pahrump Town Manager Dave Richards.

The two gross misdemeanors were filed for offering a reward for an appointment and for grafting by a public officer. They are each punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $2,000 fine. They involve the same incidents.

The arraignment is scheduled for 2 p.m. June 23, according to Conrad Hafen, Nevada chief deputy attorney general.

Liakopoulos won't be rearrested on this charge, since he was already arrested on a probable cause warrant by Nye County sheriff's deputies two days after the vote on the half-cent sales tax Dec. 20.

The Pahrump town board deadlocked 2-2 Oct. 9 on Jenny Liakopoulos' appointment.

"It was a non-paid position but it was a position of influence and control over the veteran's memorial," Hafen said.

Liakopoulos said the public has seen the charges already and he is confident the system works.

During a statement at the April 1 Nye County Commission meeting, when commissioners voted to reimburse the state attorney general's office for investigative expenses in the case, Liakopoulos charged the accusations were politically motivated.

He predicted the charges will be proven to be an abuse of power by Murray and Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

"I enthusiastically welcome the opportunity for the Nevada attorney general to objectively and independently review these politically motivated accusations, and I have every confidence that I will be completely exonerated of any wrongdoing whatsoever," Liakopoulos said in a prepared statement at that time.

The Nye County district attorney's office handed the case over to the state attorney general to avoid a conflict of interest.

Hafen said the criminal complaint was filed by the Public Integrity Unit of the attorney general's office.

"The Public Integrity Unit has been in existence in the attorney general's office since 2003. The primary goal of that unit is to prosecute elected officials and/or government employees who have abused their power and authority," Hafen said.

When asked about Murray's involvement in the bribery scheme, Hafen said, "She didn't commit the crime. It was him going to her, based on the evidence and what was alleged in the complaint."

Murray said at the Oct. 9 meeting there was only one applicant for the curator position and motioned that Liakopoulos be appointed. That was met by a chorus of boos from numerous veterans in the audience, many of whom were seeking appointment to a Pahrump Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee.

Nye County Sheriff's Deputy David Baruchowitz served the summons on Liakopoulos around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Hafen said he'll prosecute the case.