Nevada’s Commission on Judicial Discipline has filed formal charges accusing former Lyon County Municipal Court Judge Daniel Bauer of misconduct in pulling over a teenage driver for a traffic infraction in Fernley, claiming to be a police officer and flashing the badge he received on retiring from the Nevada Highway Patrol prior to becoming a judge.According to the non-criminal charges, Bauer, driving his sports car, stopped Randi Riede, who was en route to a school sporting event, in September 2011. The complaint says Bauer claimed that, since he was also a judicial officer, she would not be able to contest a ticket due to his status and that he would arrest her if he ever saw her again.He is accused of “abuse of the prestige of judicial office to advance the personal interest of the judge,” conducting himself in an inappropriate manner and engaging in extrajudicial conduct that would appear to a reasonable person to be coercive.William Cooper, special prosecutor for the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, filed the charges. A hearing will be held to determine what sanctions might be imposed on Bauer, who resigned in February 2012. Bauer, a non-lawyer judge, had faced two misdemeanor charges as a result of the traffic stop, but after he resigned those counts were dropped by the Lyon County district attorney.
