The former Washoe County Sheriff’s sergeant facing seven felony charges waived his right to a pre-trial hearing yesterday in Sparks Justice Court.

Dennis Carry, who is accused of bigamy – being married to two people at the same time – two counts of burglary, perjury and forgery will now go to trial at Washoe County’s Second Judicial District Court.

A preliminary hearing schedule for three days this week in Sparks was canceled after Carry was arraigned on an amended criminal complaint. 

Attorney Tom Viloria, who is defending Carry, said his client agreed to waive the hearing.

Since being charged for multiple felonies in 2019, Carry was arrested in early 2021, and the case has made little movement in court since that time. His case was initially in Second Judicial Court, but it was moved last year to Sparks. 

It’s now rescheduled back at the Washoe County court for mid-March, but that date is likely to change, according to the prosecutor, Chief Deputy District Attorney Luke Prengaman.

Boxes of evidence brought to court yesterday went unopened.

Carry gets GPS monitor removed

Viloria requested of the court that Carry’s tracking monitor be removed. He has not served time after being arrested more than two years ago and instead was placed on house arrest.

“This is impacting his ability to work,” Viloria said. “Mr. Carry has been on GPS for quite some time. At one of the prior proceedings [a judge] had remarked that he would remove the GPS following the conclusion of the year. That year has come and gone.”

Sparks Judge Jessica Longley granted the request.

Multiple crimes, coverup alleged

Carry is alleged to have carried out his crimes while still a sergeant at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. He previously investigated internet crimes, including child pornography.

While married to one woman, he is accused of breaking into the downtown Reno Justice Court, using his access card from his position with WCSO, to alter marriage records to show he divorced one wife before marrying the other.

The second wife was a federal judge. Both wives have since divorced him, and those records have been sealed by the Washoe County court.

Law enforcement has repeatedly denied public records in the case. This Is Reno sued the Reno Police Department after it denied copies of the criminal affidavit – even after the copies were made available through Reno Justice Court. 

Though now public, RPD still refuses to acknowledge those records are public and continues to refuse to make them available. Second Judicial District Court Judge Kathleen Drakulich agreed with RPD but agreed the city of Reno repeatedly failed to follow state public records laws. 

This Is Reno appealed Drakulich’s ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court. The court recently indicated it would make a decision on the case without a hearing. 

Read more

Read This Is Reno’s four-part investigation into the allegations against Carry.

Findings include the following allegations:

• Carry was able to use his undercover identity to gain access to unsecured but confidential court files in the Second Judicial District Courthouse.
• He issued subpoenas to AT&T and Charter / Spectrum to gain access to downtown business Wi-Fi, allegedly to monitor internet traffic for a child porn suspect that, police claim, did not exist. 
• Reno Police and the Sheriff’s Office went to extraordinary lengths to deny access to information about Carry’s case — even when that information was publicly available elsewhere.
• Carry was detained and read his Miranda rights by Reno Police detectives nearly a year before he was actually arrested.
• Carry used his alternate, undercover identity allegedly so that the “Reno Cop Watch” Facebook page would not have access to publicly available information about him.
• Detectives served search warrants on smartphones, Carry’s Apple Watch and many online accounts, including PayPal and Google. They noted his elevated heart rate, measured by his Apple Watch, three times in the affidavit filed in his case. 
• Carry tried to cover his online tracks with numerous apps designed to cloak his activities and generate false information.
• Carry continued these activities even after he was interviewed by detectives in February of 2019.
• Carry, rather than face discipline or an investigation from the Sheriff’s Office, was allowed to retire months after being put on paid leave, even after it was discovered he used a spy cam to record his supervisor, other WCSO personnel and FBI agents.