Retired Las Vegas police officer penned anonymous letters targeting lieutenant, detectives say

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A former Las Vegas Metro police officer allegedly sent more than a dozen anonymous letters to discredit a lieutenant who penned the investigative document that led to the officer’s forced retirement, detectives said.

Christopher Lange, a retired Metro officer who investigated sex crimes, faces charges of libel, a gross misdemeanor; and stalking, a misdemeanor, records said. LVMPD Lt. Richard Meyers recommended Lange for termination in September 2020 but Lange chose to retire before a pre-termination hearing, documents said.

Lange retired in February 2021, one month after Metro received the first letter, documents said.

For three years from January 2021 to January of this year, Metro received at least 16 letters regarding “the personal life and professional life” of Meyers, documents said. Police believed the writer of the letters was the same person who wanted Meyers fired.

Meyers never supervised Lange, police said, though “Meyers was the supervisor who was tasked with filing a statement of complaint with [internal affairs] for [Lange’s] alleged failures as a sexual assault detective,” police wrote in court documents.

“One of the most recent letters was sent to Meyers’ residence,” police said in a warrant filed in March. In some letters, the writer had claims about Meyers’ leadership and marriage, police said.

In one letter, police said the writer falsely accused Meyers of harassing detectives. In another letter, the writer claimed “Meyers was causing a hostile work environment,” which included false allegations of “unwanted touching” and specifically named two employees, police said.

One of the women named in the letter later told police “she never had those type of interactions with Meyers” and did not know any women who had “those type [sic] of experiences” with him, proving the allegations inaccurate, police said.

In another letter, the writer accused Meyers of using a homophobic slur at a crime scene. Police interviewed Meyers, who said he would not use that word. Officers also interviewed another employee, who said he did not witness Meyers use the word nor behave in the manner alleged in the letter.

Through a QR code on a stamp, police and postal inspectors tracked one letter to a credit card. Police learned Lange lived at the residence with the credit card holder, documents said.

Police said they also obtained a text message where Lange said, “Keep hoping Meyers gets nailed for something,” documents said. Detectives also located photographs on Lange’s phone, showing a combination of Meyers’ address and other personal information. Police also allege Lange provided false information to a video blogger who then reiterated the false claims.

In an interview with police, Lange said he wrote at least 10 letters, adding Meyers was the employee who wrote the statement of complaint, leading to his retirement, documents said.

On March 7, police mailed Lange a summons to appear in court. He was arraigned on the charges in April. According to court records, a pro temp judge agreed to place Lange on pretrial compliance ahead of a July 29 hearing.

Lange’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A photo of Lange was not immediately available.

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