Angela Evans Lawsuits: Wrongful Arrest, VEA Discrimination, Conviction

Angela Evans, the former CEO of Nevada’s Valley Electric Association, filed two federal lawsuits after her 2019 arrest: a civil rights suit against the sheriff’s captain who arrested her, which settled for $400,000 in December 2023, and a discrimination and wrongful termination suit against VEA, whose core claims survived summary judgment in January 2023. The captain, David Boruchowitz, later pleaded guilty to federal civil rights and wire fraud charges tied to the arrest and was sentenced in July 2025 to three years of probation.

What Started the Litigation

On February 26, 2019, then-Deputy Sheriff David Boruchowitz arrested Evans on suspicion of embezzling $3,500 or more from Valley Electric Association, the rural cooperative she led from Pahrump. She posted $5,000 bail that night and was placed on paid administrative leave.¹ She was never formally charged. In December 2019, Nye County District Attorney Chris Arabia announced his office had reviewed the case and declined to prosecute.² By then, Evans was already gone from VEA. She left the cooperative in early July 2019.³

The Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Boruchowitz

Evans sued Boruchowitz and Nye County in federal court, alleging he arrested her without probable cause in violation of her constitutional rights. The complaint described “indescribable mental anguish and emotional pain” and economic harm including the loss of her career, and alleged that Boruchowitz’s conduct was “acquiesced to” by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.⁴

Nye County was eventually dismissed from the suit. In December 2023, Evans and Boruchowitz reached a $400,000 settlement, with the state of Nevada indemnifying Boruchowitz for the payment through its insurance.³

What the Case Revealed About the Arrest

Discovery in the civil case and a later federal indictment tied the arrest to a scheme aimed at VEA’s governance, not law enforcement. According to the August 2023 federal indictment, Boruchowitz arrested Evans without probable cause and then posted a press release about the arrest on the Nye County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, knowing the publicity would pressure a board member to vacate their seat and give him influence over the cooperative’s board.⁵

In deposition testimony, Boruchowitz admitted he created the logo and Facebook page for “Members for Change,” an activist group organized to push for removal of VEA’s board, while at the same time overseeing the criminal investigation of Evans. He also acknowledged he had been considering running for a paid seat on the VEA board, which offered up to $28,000 per year.⁶

A secretly recorded February 2019 conversation captured Boruchowitz and former VEA executive Ken Johnson discussing an envelope of cash Johnson intended to give him. Boruchowitz told Johnson to hold onto the money, saying, “The fact that this may go criminal, keep it to avoid the — any appearance of impropriety.” Johnson later told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the envelope held $50 to $100 meant for Facebook advertising.⁶ The federal indictment further alleged Boruchowitz perjured himself during a deposition in Evans’s civil lawsuit and failed to disclose his involvement with Members for Change to the justice of the peace who signed the VEA search warrant.⁷

The Discrimination Lawsuit Against VEA

Evans’s second federal lawsuit targeted the cooperative itself. She alleged she had been unlawfully terminated and discriminated against on the basis of sex, race, national origin, and age. Evans, who identified as a 56-year-old Hispanic woman at the time, filed an internal discrimination complaint on June 17, 2019, stating she had been treated “unfairly, inappropriately, and discriminated against as a female, 56-year-old Hispanic CEO.” She was fired eleven days later.⁸

Her complaint carried eight claims:

Sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under Title VII
National origin and race discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under Title VII
Race and ethnicity discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1981
Age discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Retaliation under Title VII, the ADEA, and § 1981
Luring under false pretenses under Nevada state law
Negligent hiring, training, and supervision under Nevada law

Evans alleged, among other things, that she was paid $50,000 less than other executive vice presidents at VEA and received less favorable severance and mentorship arrangements than other CEOs had.⁸

In January 2023, U.S. District Judge Anne R. Traum ruled on VEA’s motion for summary judgment. The court dismissed the harassment theories across all claims, finding Evans had failed to administratively exhaust those specific allegations. It also dismissed the age discrimination claim, the luring claim, and the negligent hiring claim. The court allowed Evans’s core discrimination and retaliation claims to move forward, finding she had raised genuine factual disputes about whether other CEOs were treated more favorably in pay, severance, and working conditions.⁸ The available record does not include a final resolution beyond that ruling.

Boruchowitz’s Criminal Conviction

The civil case ran alongside a federal criminal prosecution. In August 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Boruchowitz on charges of wire fraud, perjury, and civil rights violations following an FBI investigation. He resigned from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in October 2023, and a federal magistrate judge ordered that he could not possess a firearm or work as an active-duty police officer.⁹

In March 2025, Boruchowitz pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of wire fraud. The plea deal dropped the perjury charge and two additional wire fraud counts. He faced a maximum of 21 years in prison.⁵

On July 15, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon sentenced Boruchowitz to three years of probation, a six-month curfew allowing him to leave home only for work or volunteer activities, and a $35,000 fine plus a $125 penalty. He received no prison time. The judge denied the prosecution’s request for restitution to Evans, stating there was “no legal basis” for it.¹⁰

Evans spoke at the sentencing. “My life has been destroyed. My reputation and my career have been destroyed, and there’s no going back,” she told the court. She later said she wished Boruchowitz had received prison time but described the judge’s message to him as “powerful.” On the denied restitution, she said she was “fine with not receiving restitution,” adding, “It’s about accountability. It’s about him violating his oath to serve and protect.”¹⁰

1
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Valley Electric Association CEO Angela Evans Arrested
2
Pahrump Valley Times. Former Valley Electric CEO Angela Evans Is Cleared
3
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Settlement Reached Between Former CEO, Nye County Sheriff’s Captain
4
Pahrump Valley Times. Settlement Reached Between Former VEA CEO, Nye County Sheriff’s Captain
5
U.S. Department of Justice. Former Nye County Captain Pleads Guilty to Federal Civil Rights Violation and Wire Fraud
6
Las Vegas Review-Journal. Ethics Questions Haunt Sheriff’s Captain, Documents Reveal Alleged Abuse of Power
7
U.S. Department of Justice. Nye County Captain Indicted on Federal Violations
8
CaseMine. Evans v. Valley Elec. Ass’n
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8 News Now. Former Nye County Captain Avoids Prison Sentence After CEO’s Unlawful Arrest
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Pahrump Valley Times. Boruchowitz Sentenced to Probation in Wire Fraud Case