Clark County is looking into acquiring the headquarters of Lutheran Social Services of Nevada, a longtime nonprofit dogged by claims of financial mismanagement since suspending its operations five months ago.
County government “may be trying to take possession so that the building can be used for that which it was intended – as a nonprofit to feed the hungry, take care of the poor,” said County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, whose district includes the organization’s neighborhood on Boulder Highway.
The county is examining its legal rights, he said, having allocated millions of dollars in federal grants toward constructing and improving the building.
Questions about the building’s future follow the December resignations from the nonprofit’s board of its two Lutheran ministers, who cited their concerns about mismanagement. Las Vegas police detectives recently have been interviewing former associates of the nonprofit about the organization’s financial dealings.
The Rev. Marta Poling Schmitt, who resigned after rejoining the board in May, said the best path forward may be for the county to acquire the building.
“I don’t know that LSSN has a future. I don’t think we can dig out of this mess they made,” the retired pastor said, referring to CEO Tim Bedwell and what she described as the “friendship cabal” running the nonprofit.
Bedwell, who became the chief executive in January 2024, did not respond to a request for comment.
Schmitt laments that the organization founded 40 years ago by the Lutheran community has become “de-Lutheranized,” with no Lutherans on its board or executive team.
The Lutheran Church has no direct control over the nonprofit, apart from the limited oversight provided by the one or two ministers typically serving on the board of directors. Until recently, Lutheran churches have donated to the organization, which operated a food pantry and provided hot meals for seniors along with other services such as rent assistance.
Claims to building
In December 2016, Clark County approved $5.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for what was described as the Boulder Highway Collaborative Campus. About half of the funding was to build the Lutheran Social Services building and the other half a Boys & Girls Club, county spokesperson Jennifer Cooper wrote in an email.
In 2023, the county awarded $1.8 million in federal grant dollars for Lutheran Social Services to build an addition that included an expanded kitchen, Cooper said.
Provisions of the grants indicate that the county may have a claim to the building if the structure no longer is serving its intended purpose. These provisions also may prevent a bank that is owed money from making its own claim, said Jon Paul, who for most of last year served as the nonprofit’s part-time chief financial officer.
Paul, who had not been paid since July, was told by the CEO on Dec. 31 that the board no longer required his services or volunteer time.
In 2024, the nonprofit used the building as collateral to take out a $750,000 line of credit from MidFirst Bank, documents show. The credit line, which was tapped out before he joined the nonprofit, was not paid back, Paul said.
Because the nonprofit does not have clear title to the building, conversations about the bank taking possession have stalled, said Paul, a member of a Henderson Lutheran congregation.
A MidFirst executive did not return a reporter’s phone call.
After their departures, Paul, Schmitt and the Rev. Hans-Lothar Dettling, who was on the board, have worked to wrest back control of the organization. An online petition calling for the ouster of the leadership garnered about 500 signatures, Schmitt said, but was taken down by change.org because of a complaint that it was defamatory.
Building liens
The nonprofit reported gross revenues of $5.1 million and expenses of $4.7 million for the fiscal year ending in June 2024, according to its most recent tax filing.
Last September, the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority after a year terminated what was to have been a nine-year, $10 million contract with the nonprofit to help relocate residents from a public housing complex. The authority did not give a reason for the contract’s termination.
A year earlier, in September 2024, signs of trouble at the nonprofit emerged with the resignations of several board members and key employees, with some citing concerns about financial mismanagement.
They said their resignations stemmed in part from learning that Bedwell was paying $8,500 per month to his wife, Michele Bedwell, unbeknownst to board members. The CEO said the board members knew or should have known.
No contracts were produced to justify the payments to Michele Bedwell and another $8,500 per month to her business partner Adam Kent for ill-defined services, said former board member Robert Newman. Michele Bedwell and Kent for a time were also board members, unpaid positions.
Last November, Michele Bedwell said she had been paid just $2,500 in the prior five months, despite taking on new responsibilities as staffing dwindled. However, Paul said that when the nonprofit received tax credits in December, the CEO immediately paid his wife $42,000.
Michele Bedwell said in January that she no longer was with the organization. Kent, the chief operating officer, has declined to comment.
Tim Bedwell has said there was nothing improper about payments to his wife, who he said did marketing and fundraising for the nonprofit, and to Kent, a consultant whom he promoted to an executive position.
At the time of the payments, vendors were going unpaid, and making payroll had become a struggle, former staff members said.
In November, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on financial issues involving the nonprofit and the Bedwells, who have been sued for nonpayment by credit card companies and a bank. Tim Bedwell’s wages were garnished to pay off more than $27,000 in credit card debt.
Tim Bedwell said his salary at the nonprofit is $210,000 a year. A former North Las Vegas police officer, he also collected $87,500 in fiscal 2025 from the Public Employees Retirement System, according to a spokesperson for the system.
The nonprofit continues to owe money to its vendors, including meal providers and an alarm company, Schmitt and Paul said.
In December, Sting Alarm placed liens on the Boulder Highway property for $25,200 in unpaid labor and materials, according to records from the Clark County recorder’s office.
Paul and other former associates of the nonprofit said they recently have been interviewed by detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department’s public integrity unit.
The Review-Journal asked the Police Department for the audio or transcripts of interviews that are part of this inquiry. The department denied the request, stating that the records “pertain to an open criminal investigation and/or criminal proceedings.”
Board connections
The public integrity unit investigated Carrie Cox, chair of the nonprofit’s board, in connection with another matter. Cox, a Henderson councilwoman, was indicted in November under a rarely used law on a felony charge of monitoring or attempting to monitor a private conversation involving rival Henderson Councilwoman Monica Larson.
Cox has denied any wrongdoing. She did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The councilwoman has been a staunch defender of the Bedwells, according to former board members. In 2024, she publicly credited them with helping her win her seat on the City Council in 2022.
Cox’s campaign has paid Michele Bedwell $23,500 for advertising and consulting services, campaign finance reports show. The reports also list in-kind expenses of $10,200, indicating goods or services received by Michele Bedwell, as well as $5,800 in in-kind contributions from Michele Bedwell.
The reports show a connection to another board member, attorney Jason Stoffel. Cox’s campaign paid Stoffel $324 for legal services. Stoffel and his law firm provided $1,800 in in-kind legal services.
Like Cox, Stoffel, who ran unsuccessfully for district judge in 2020, paid Michele Bedwell for campaign services. His campaign paid her $128,600 for advertising and consulting expenses, according to his campaign finance reports. She provided his campaign with $10,000 in in-kind services, the statements show.
Stoffel did not respond to a request for comment.
The nonprofit’s website lists a third board member, Shawn Davis. During a brief phone call, Davis said he had been on the board “for a while” but had been absent from meetings.
Davis said about his absences that “they didn’t need me” and that he had “never officially been removed.” He also said he is now attending meetings.
He confirmed that he became involved in the nonprofit through BNI, a business networking group in which Michele Bedwell and Kent have played significant roles.
Asked about the future of the nonprofit and its building, Davis said,“I’m not able to tell you anything at this moment.”
Future partnership?
Schmitt served on the nonprofit’s board from 2006 to 2011, and again from 2015 until 2018, when the headquarters on Boulder Highway opened.
“The board was just thrilled that we finally had a permanent home and a place where the Lutheran community and its benevolence were desperately needed,” she said.
Schmitt donated $100,000 to a capital campaign for the building’s construction. As recently as October, she hosted a fundraiser that raised nearly $40,000 for the nonprofit, she said.
But after digging more into the organization’s finances, she became disenchanted, she said.
“It breaks my heart for how important this mission is in that particular part of Las Vegas,” Schmitt said, referring to the location of the headquarters south of East Desert Inn Road. “People depend on this to eat.”
Lutheran pastors have been meeting with organizations that feed the hungry in the hopes that one of them can work with Clark County to renew operations at the Boulder Highway building, she said.
Cooper, the county spokesperson, said in her email, “The County is not currently taking any action, but we are looking into what options might be available.”
The nonprofit occasionally holds events at its headquarters.
On Thursday afternoon, it posted on Facebook that its pantry was open until 3 p.m., or as long as supplies lasted, and thanked City Mission Ministries. While some commenters welcomed the news, others complained that there wasn’t enough notice for them to get there.
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.
