Third Nye County deputy charged in jail overdose death case

A third Nye County corrections officer has been charged in an investigation into the drug overdose death of a woman who was housed at the county jail.

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that Deputy Christopher Helgerson has been charged by a special prosecutor with a gross misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit unauthorized surreptitious listening. Helgerson is the third deputy charged in the case, according to Nye County Justice Court records.

In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday, Deputies Carlos Luna and Kyle Benes were each charged with second-degree felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, inhumanity to a prisoner, neglect of duty resulting in death, unauthorized surreptitious listening and conspiracy.

The charges stem from the death of inmate Stevie Miller. As the Review-Journal reported in August, Miller, 30, of Pahrump, died at Desert View Hospital on June 10 from a methamphetamine and fentanyl overdose after being housed at the county jail. Arrest reports for Luna and Benes indicate county deputies never called for medical assistance despite Miller showing signs of a drug overdose for hours.

According to the affidavits, Luna was watching a YouTube video and texting on his phone as Miller was suffering at the jail.

Luna referred to Miller as a “f——— goblin” as she was ailing, according to the affidavits.

Luna called her a “dumb b——,” the reports state, and asked an inmate worker to close a jail door so he didn’t have to listen to Miller groaning.

“That’s what happens kids when you do drugs,” Luna was quoted as saying in the arrest affidavits.

The sheriff’s office previously said Miller was in jail for suspicion of reckless driving in a high-speed vehicular pursuit in Pahrump on June 9. Miller’s vehicle collided with two other vehicles, and she fled the scene on foot before deputies arrested her.

The sheriff’s office said Miller appeared to be uninjured from the crash but under the influence of narcotics or alcohol. She was taken to Desert View Hospital for a blood draw, then to the Nye County Detention Center to be booked on multiple charges.

According to affidavits in the case, it was learned at the hospital that Miller had ingested fentanyl. When she was booked at the jail, medical staff directed authorities at the jail to keep Miller on observation while she was in custody, along with a condition that she “return to the hospital immediately” if she experienced abdominal pain and vomiting.

On the morning of June 10, Miller started vomiting in her cell. Benes later saw Miller in her cell, and she told him she couldn’t get up, the reports state.

Benes told her: “try to drink some water, you’re probably going to end up going to court today, so you’re going to have to figure out how to get up for court.”

At 8:16 a.m. Miller started to gag and vomit. She then vomited again three minutes later, and at one point she crawled through her vomit on the floor to get water from the sink.

For hours, authorities said Miller was suffering in her cell but at no point did any deputy contact medical staff to examine Miller or give her medication. She stopped breathing that afternoon and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Authorities did not detail exactly what Helgerson is accused of doing. In the affidavits for Luna and Benes, authorities said that after Miller died and an investigation was launched, deputies “surreptitiously accessed the jail video surveillance without authorization to record their interviews and surreptitiously listen to detectives’ conversation regarding the investigation.”

Court records do not list an attorney for Helgerson. He, Benes and Luna face an arraignment hearing on Nov. 19 in Pahrump Justice Court.

“The Nye County Sheriff’s Office recognizes the seriousness of this matter and will continue to comply with applicable legal requirements as the criminal proceedings and internal review move forward,” the sheriff’s office said this week.

Contact Glenn Puit at [email protected].