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March 15, 2006
FBI STING Brothels, bribes and broken heartsREMAINDER OF TRANSCRIPTS PUBLISHED VERBATIM, PART II
By GINA B. GOOD
A criminal complaint was filed against Richards on March 2 and these records are open to the public. The first portion of the transcript ran in the March 10 edition of the Pahrump Valley Times. In the first paragraph of the filed document, it explains that the meeting was not taped. However, whenever possible, every meeting between the two were audio and video recorded. Trummell is referred to as "Commissioner A." She is also known as "CW" or "cooperating witness." Individual F is also mentioned. The true name of that person is not known. In the document, the FBI edited out non-pertinent conversation. The Bureau wrote all explanatory notes in the transcript. Transcript: August 15, 2005 Richards met with CW face-to-face from 11:00 a.m. to 11:48 a.m. Although CW wore a device to record the meeting, the device did not operate correctly and therefore the meeting was not recorded. According to CW, during the meeting Richards offered to CW for her signature a one-page document entitled "Memorandum of Scholarship." The contents of which are as follows: The Richards Family Trust, by and through its Trustee, Joe Richards, does hereby give to CW, the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) as and for a scholarship to the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The scholarship recipient hereby agrees to use said scholarship in a manner that will further Recipient's higher education. Donor states that this scholarship is given for exemplary work done by CW. Dated this ____ day of July 2005. Recipient: CW According to CW, Richards told CW that he wanted CW to rewrite the 300-yard rule and make the show cause go away. Richards told CW that she could use the money any way she wanted to and that it did not have to be spent on tuition. (Editor's note: The 300-yard rule is related to the county's brothel ordinance, which mandates all brothels - excluding existing brothels - be located a minimum 900 feet from a county road.) CW placed her signature on this document and corrected the date to read August 15, 2005. Richards then provided CW with a check payable to CW in the amount of $4,000 and signed by Joe Richards. The memorandum line stated the word "scholarship." The amount of $5,000 in the trust document reflects the sum of the payments made to CW: $1,000 on June 28, 2005; and $4,000 on August 15, 2005. These documents were retrieved by the FBI from CW following the meeting. The check was negotiated and deposited into a special account opened solely for the purpose of negotiating the instrument and safeguarding the proceeds as evidence. The Memorandum was placed into evidence. Transcript: August 31, 2005 From 7:07 a.m. to 8:16 a.m., Richards met face-to-face with CW. The meeting was recorded. At the meeting, Richards presented CW with court documents pertaining to his property that is subject to the 300-yard rule. Richards: How are you coming with the ordinance (containing the 300-yard rule)? CW: Good, it's pretty much ... it's coming really well. I wasn't sure if you wanted to ah, I thought we were going to have to have the boundaries changed and I talked to Individual B about it. I don't know if he talked to you about it or not. Richards: Yeah. CW: But I had talked about having that done first. So if there was going to be heat it would come on the Commission and not on the Town Board this time. Richards: Uh hum. CW: But it looks like that this might take care of it (referring to the court papers that Richards had given CW earlier in the meeting). I don't know; so that they wouldn't have to annex you back in. Richards and CW discuss other changes Richards would like incorporated into the ordinance. The conversation turned to the subject of Individual F who is acting on behalf of Richards. CW: So, I saw where they hired Individual F. that's good. That's great. Richards: He's a good guy. He'll help you with that ordinance. CW: Do you think? Richards: He wrote it. CW: Ok. Richards: He wrote the ordinance. CW: Ok, I didn't know that. Richards: Oh yeah, he wrote that ordinance. CW: Ok, well good. You think he would talk to me even though I'm not on the town? Richards: He'd be happy to talk to you. CW: Good. Richards: He'd be happy to help you out. Oh yeah. You know he wrote that years ago. Richards and CW discuss other matters, including timing of dismissing the show cause hearing. The conversation then turns back to Individual F. Richards: When do you think that ordinance will be done? CW: I could probably arrange to meet with Individual F next week to go over it. If you want. Richards: You want me to give you his phone number? CW: That would be great. I don't have a pen. Non-pertinent conversation ensues. CW: I might end up using some of that scholarship money for (personal reasons). Is that ok? (In reference to the document CW signed at their last meeting and the payment of $5,000.) Richards: Whatever you do with it that's yours. You do whatever you want with it. CW: Ok, you're not going to come back on me with that paperwork? Richards: No, that's why it says that in there; do whatever you want to with it. You should go to school. You should later on. CW: I know, I will eventually. After several telephone calls, CW agrees to meet with Individual F on September 11, 2005. Before the September 11, 2005 meeting between Individual F and CW, FBI SA and CW revised the ordinance to drop the 300-yard restriction and made other changes to the ordinance as directed by Richards. CW traveled to Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2005, while in Washington, she received a telephone call from Richards on her cell phone, which call she did not answer. The CW returned Richard's call by placing a call from Washington D.C. to Richards in Crystal, Nevada, at around 11:25 a.m., on November 10, 2005. CW called Richards ... on the landline at the Mabel's Ranch brothel. In that conversation the CW and Richards discuss the CW's concern about disclosing the payment of $5,000. Based on the foregoing, there is probable cause to believe that Joseph Maynard Richards has knowingly used interstate wires in an effort to execute a scheme to defraud and deprive, and attempt to defraud and deprive, the citizens of Nye County of the honest services of Commissioner A, the CW, in violation of Title 18, United States Codes Section 1346 and 2. Editor's note: The Pahrump Valley Times will continue to report on this topic as facts become available. |
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