Employees and managers at a Las Vegas family court were investigated for an alleged cover up after a court marshal reportedly sexually assaulted Monica Contreras when she appeared before them in 2011. A video uncovered by the I-Team at CBS 8 News Now shows Contreras accuse the man of sexual assault in court and then that same marshal arrests her, claiming she broke a law that does not even exist.

Contreras appeared in Clark County Family Court in August 2011 with her 2-year-old daughter because her husband filed a temporary restraining order against her during their divorce. Her husband never showed up in court and the order was therefore denied.

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But Contreras said before she could leave, a male court marshal, Ron Fox, ordered her to go into a waiting room alone with him for an unexplained drug search.

An internal investigation by Clark County Courts validated her claims that Fox touched her breast and buttocks and also ordered her to lift up her shirt.

After it happened, she told Court Master Patricia Donninger what occurred, as you can see in the video. She said she asked for a female marshal to perform the search, but Fox just ignored her.

While she speaks, Donninger appears to be more interested in what the 2-year-old girl is telling her.

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After Contreras finishes explaining that she was offended by what just happened to her, the marshal turns to her and says, “OK, so story stands? Handcuff her.” Marshal James Kenyon then prepared to arrest Contreras.

Shocked, Contreras asked, "For what, sir? Why would I be arrested? Can you please tell me?"

Fox then shouts at Contreras that she is being arrested for “false allegations made against a police officer.”

CBS 8 could not find a law that supported the arrest. Furthermore, there is no law allowing a sexual assault victim be arrested by the accused assaulter.

Donninger does nothing to intervene. On video, Contreras kisses her little girl goodbye before being taken to jail.

On April 5, Contreras filed a federal lawsuit against Fox, Doninger and Kenyon.

“The wrongful conduct of defendant Fox was intentional and evilly motivated, and the wrongful conduct of defendants Kenyon and Doninger involved reckless, callous and deliberate indifference to plaintiff’s federally protected rights,” the complaint said.

After CBS 8 exposed the crime, a subsequent internal affairs investigation more claims of sexual assault and even choking a citizen in family court.

Crystal Williams told CBS 8 that a marshal choked her when she resisted arrest in court. The 110-pound Williams, 25, was detained on a traffic warrant for driving without a license. She said she was not resisting officers when she was handcuffed and put into a restraint chair with a spit-guard over her face. At that point she was immobilized, but she claims a marshal began choking her. Another marshal admitted to the I-Team that he witnessed the choking incident.

The family court marshal supervisor Lt. Steve Rushfield stepped down from his post on April 8, after the CBS 8 report.

Fox was later fired and is now suing Clark County for wrongful termination maintaining he did not grope Contreras.

Sources: CBS 8, Las Vegas Review-Journal

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