A 33-year-old former candidate for Carson City mayor and State Senate District 16, turned himself into the sheriff’s office last week for a felony warrant alleging that he stole nearly $20,000 from the Rural Nevada Democratic Caucus.
Aaron Michael Sims of Reno was taken into custody Thursday on the warrant, filed by the Nevada Attorney General’s Office. Sims was an unsuccessful candidate for Carson City mayor in the 2020 primary and lost a 2022 bid for State Senate District 16.
The Reno resident is accused of stealing approximately $19,737.29 from Rural Nevada Democratic Caucus banks for “his personal gain and/or use, all or some of which happened in Carson City,” according to the criminal complaint. The case is being prosecuted by Melissa Rosenthal, Senior Deputy Attorney General.
Case criminal investigator Elihu Vann said in the affidavit that a police report was filed June 10, 2024 with the Carson City Sheriff’s Office accusing the then-chair of the Rural Nevada Democratic Caucus of stealing political donations.
On July 1 2024, the investigation began for alleged campaign fraud, with Sims accused of stealing money from RNDC. A committee member explained there was $9,000 in RNDC’s bank account when Sims took over as chair and then began to notice “strange spending” in November 2023, and when they looked again in May 2024, the account had a negative balance.
The RNDC member described charges that include paying off a personal credit card. They also described a $500 credit card payment, a $1,000 cash withdraw and continual gas fill ups. The committee member explained there hadn’t been any events or anything that the RNDC had been doing that would justify filling up a gas tank every other week, according to the complaint.
Bank records show the RNDC’s account balance of $8,316.95 in August of 2023 and $580.81 in May 2024.
The RNDC’s bank activity revealed that from August 7 2023 to Nov. 29, 2024, donations were not spent on activities related to the organization’s sole purpose but were personal in nature, mostly for restaurants, fuel, hotels, airline tickets, entertainment and department stores.
The state alleges Sims to have used funds to purchase entertainment (music, movies, video games) used funds to purchase food and drink (Door Dash, fast food, groceries, liquor and coffee).
The criminal complaint says Sims used fundings to purchase general merchandise (electronics, software, tobacco, vape, office supplies clothes and gifts). He is also accused of using funds to purchase home improvements totaling $131.96 and used funds for loan payments (credit card) which totaled $657.95, medical supplies totaling $151, the purchase of personal care items (hair, skin, beauty, nails) which totaled $157.86 and for internet and cable and for personal vehicle maintenance.
The complaint Sims transferred funds out (ATM, PayPal, Zelle, Cash App) that totaled 3,690.63 and used funds for transportation (gas, ride shares, parking) that totaled $4,161.94 and used funds for air travel that totaled $1,179.29.
On June 24, 2024 Sims is on record via Zoom at a RNDC board meeting stating “I didn’t technically pay anything back yet, I’m waiting for the end of everything and that’s going to come once we get everything moved over to the new bank account,” he said.
Sims explained that he wanted to have “as much ammo” behind him as possible and that if he admitted that some of the transactions were made by accident or maybe were too personal but paid them back, then that would protect him legally, according to the complaint.
A board member asked Sims if they could get retroactive approval. Sims stated “We did that already” adding that he was sorry to two of the members ’cause obviously there were times that I did not directly go to you.”
A board member explained that the big issue was that there were no receipts or proof of purchases. Sims stated “I do want to stress that, keep in mind that my budget was approved, and that the budget was for $18,000,” which prompted a board member to say “I don’t remember so much of a budget as we approved you to do transactions up to $100.”
On August 14, 2024 Sims explained that he became the Chair of RNDC in 2024 and claimed that he was given approval from the RNDC Executive Board to spend funds. Sims agreed that proper spending to include travel expenses, donations to political candidates and advertising. Sims explained that in the first few months as chair, he didn’t spend anything because the RNDC didn’t have much money coming in, according to the complaint.
Sims explained that he presented an $18,000 budget that was approved by the Executive Board. He admitted to mistakenly using RNDC’s debit card in place of his personal debit card and charges for service to his personal vehicle. He explained that he accepted a donation of $5,000 directly to avoid fees. He explained that the RNDC’s account was negative in April 2024.
ON Jan. 15, 2025 the state party looked at the bank statements and asked Sims to resign for misappropriation of donor money. One member of the executive board of the State Central Committee was reportedly “appalled” by Sim’s spending, the complaint states.
Leave a Reply