Feds push to make former brothel into wild horse center

Scott Sonner

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 9:55 a.m.

MUSTANG, Nev. - The Bureau of Land Management has formally submitted a proposal to the Justice Department to turn the Mustang Ranch brothel into a wild horse tourist attraction, complete with a mustang adoption center and research facilities.

Federal agents who seized the bordello this summer in a fraud and conspiracy case say it will be months before the government decides what to do with it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Damm, who led prosecution of the bordello owners, gave the first remotely positive evaluation of the horse center proposal, which would be located on 320 acres along Interstate 80 just east of Reno.

"I suppose it's as good of a proposal as any at this point," he said Wednesday. "I would certainly think the desires of the BLM would be given serious consideration.

John Singlaub, manager of the BLM's district office in Carson City, anticipated some snickers last month when he first floated the idea of turning the house of prostitution into one for mustangs and burros.

"It's an idea that's easy to make jokes about, but it's one that also makes sense," he said then.

Singlaub said this week the idea has received a surprisingly strong favorable response.

"The only criticism I've heard is that Storey County is concerned about losing the brothel because it's a huge revenue generator," he said.

He acknowledged the new tourist draw would be unlikely to outpace the old one.

"They made a ton of money there," Singlaub said.

Prostitution is legal in 12 of Nevada's 17 counties, including Storey County, where the Mustang Ranch opened 32 years ago.

But guilty verdicts against the brothel's parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial last summer ended with the property being forfeited to the federal government, pending appeals.

The BLM has sought a replacement for some time for its aging horse facility in the Palomino Valley north of Reno, where hundreds of mustangs are held for adoption. The horses are regularly rounded up to ease overpopulation on Nevada rangeland. Some 44,000 wild horses roam the West, about half in Nevada.

The cost of a new center was estimated at $12 million, including the purchase of land and restoration of wetlands along the Truckee River. Bob Abbey, BLM state director in Nevada, said the price tag is too high, but might be reduced with cheap land obtained through the seizure of the brothel.

Two dozen different people have contacted the U.S. Attorney's office in Las Vegas with one idea or another for the property, Damm said.

"All sorts of people have expressed interest in running it again as a brothel," Damm said.

"Another individual wants to turn it into some kind of a shelter for women in need. Some real estate agents simply want to market the property and sell it."

The final determination of who gets to use the Mustang Ranch property will be made by the Treasury Department, which initiated the criminal charges through the Internal Revenue Service. A Treasury Department official in charge of forfeitures in the region did not immediately respond to telephone messages.