Posted on 11/21/2003 1:24:08 PM PST by chance33_98
Nye County Investigation
(Nov. 19) -- The FBI's Operation G-Sting probe isn't the only investigation into alleged political corruption in Nevada. The federal government is also working on another potentially explosive case, one that may involved rigged elections.
The Pahrump valley is no stranger to bare knuckles politics and allegations of corruption, but the federal probe that is quietly proceeding out in Nye County could shake the political establishment to its core, with allegations even more serious than those emanating from Las Vegas strip clubs.
In the past several weeks, FBI agents served subpoenas on at least three Southern Nevada brothels, including Sheri's Ranch and its neighbor, the Chicken Ranch. Informed sources say the subpoenas requested 1099 forms for women who worked at the ranches as prostitutes.
Chicken Ranch owner Ken Green acknowledged the subpoena. "We gave them our records. There's no concern on our part," said Ken Green, Chicken Ranch owner. Neither Green nor the owners of Sheri's Ranch are targets of the probe, law enforcement sources say.
The FBI wants to match the 1099 forms from working girls against voter registration records. At question is whether a scheme was set into motion by unnamed officials to rig Nye County elections. The feds suspect that women who worked at Nye County brothels were kept on voter rolls long after they moved away, and that someone may have filled out their ballots for them in order to get selected candidates into office in the sparsely populated county.
Nye County businessmen have been told that the probe has led agents into several promising areas including alleged kickbacks and payoffs to elected officials, sweetheart deals and contracts to benefit officials, and votes-for-cash arrangements.
The world first learned of the FBI's interest 13 months ago when a strong force of agents raided the county courthouse in Tonopah and hauled away dozens of boxes of voting records. There were allegations of improprieties from the previous primary election.
Last November's general election was carried out under very strict scrutiny. Some Nye officials proclaimed they welcomed the FBI probe, even as they purged their voter rolls of hundreds of ineligible voter names. But others like then-sheriff Wade Lieseke felt the very public FBI presence was designed to hurt incumbents like him.
"The state and county already did an investigation and found no fraud, and removed people until they could prove where they live. There was no need for a federal investigation. But one is underway nonetheless," said Wade Lieseke, former Nye sheriff
Informed sources say the investigation has targeted several current and former Nye officials, as well as businesses. The investigation could stretch on for another five or six months. Not only are brothel owners cooperating with the FBI in this probe, they are also offering to work with the feds in going after interstate prostitution rackets which they say are working on the streets of Las Vegas
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