KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasFBI Arrests Nye County Brothel Owner
FBI agents have made their first arrest in what's described as a massive investigation into political corruption in Nye County. The I-Team has reported exclusively about the FBI probe for the past three years. Over the weekend, agents arrested a prominent brothel owner.
Joe Richards owns three of Nye County's six brothels and has long been a political force in rural Nevada. But some viewers may know him better as the guy who helped bring Heidi Fleiss into Nevada's bordello business.
A criminal complaint unsealed by federal authorities Monday acknowledges for the first time what we've been reporting for the past few years -- that a long-term FBI investigation has been underway. The complaint alleges that Joe Richards offered a scholarship to law school worth $5,000 to an unnamed female Nye County commissioner who was secretly working with the FBI, and who recorded the conversations.
Richards has long sought a legal brothel closer to Pahrump. His existing brothels are 30 miles further away in Crystal, Nevada. The complaint infers that Richards conspired with other persons not yet named to deprive Nye citizens of fair representation. As the I-Team has reported before, the FBI has been trying to find out whether elections in Nye County have been rigged in recent years through the use of ballots filed in the names of prostitutes, but which were filled out by someone else. That part of the probe is ongoing, according to sources, and has recently grown even more complicated.
Joe Richards received national attention recently when the announcement was made that he would use his brothel license to accommodate the plans of "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss who hopes to open a male bordello, called the Stud Farm, out in Nye County. Fleiss has since said that she will go it alone and will not be a partner with Richards.
Richards made his initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon. The I-Team will have more information on this story as it becomes available.
Email investigative reporter George Knapp at gknapp@klastv.com
