Looks like the federal government isn't that thrilled about owning a bordello after all - they're getting ready to destroy the Mustang Ranch, three years after the Internal Revenue Service seized it after a major corruption case brought down its ownership.
Failure to meet safety codes means the federal Bureau of Land Management is going to take down the pink main building and a smaller unit of the ranch. The Mustang was Nevada's first legal brothel, and that paved the way for its owner to fight in court to legalize prostitution statewide.
But owner Joseph Conforte couldn't win his own court battle after he was arrested in 1999. He was tried and convicted on fraud and racketeering charges, and the Mustang was closed. A tax fugitive for several years, Conforte was once believed living in South America while taking a $10,000 a month "retainer" as a "consultant" to the Mustang Ranch.
Refurbishing the buildings is all but impossible, the BLM said. "It would take too much money to rehabilitate the buildings because they're of shoddy construction," said BLM spokesman Mark Struble to reporters. "They certainly didn't pump their profits back into the buildings."
Built and run along one of the most treacherous flood plains in Nevada and California, the Truckee River flood plain, the Mustang Ranch was turned over to the BLM in late February. BLM officials had said the ranch would never be used for prostitution again, but they added they were willing to consider other uses for the grounds.
That didn't mean the buildings could be refurbished even without the safety problems, Struble said. "The buildings were built for a specific purpose in mind," he said, "and they realistically can't be used for other purposes."
