HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT State Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto made a swing through Pahrump earlier this week. Here she chats with Ann Nusbaum at the Pahrump Senior Center. HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Vick Schultz (he's at right) is a criminal prosecutor with the state AG's office. He brought along Toby, who promotes child safety and chidren's awareness programs. Schultz was part of the group touring with Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto. Advertisement

A rural road trip to Pahrump by state Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto Wednesday began with a wholesome puppet show on the "Shout Out Loud" program at the library, showing first and second graders how to avoid sexual predators.

But waiting out in the hall were some Pahrump residents, who gave the attorney general an indication of some of the problems facing the area during her daylong visit.

"What they told me is what I found absolutely horrible, is that their houses are sinking. So I asked them, along with when they come and talk to me, is to bring photos. I understand there's already a court action so I wanted to take a look and see what was going on," Cortez-Masto said.

From there the rural tour went on to the Pahrump Senior Center. The question of gas prices came up.

"We don't have price-gouging laws in our state. We tried to pass them but we're not there yet and it definitely is a concern because I tell you what, when I go into the rural communities, some of the services are just not there," Cortez-Masto said.

When her entourage reached the Bob Ruud Community Center for a kitchen table meeting Wednesday evening, Cortez-Masto was peppered right away with questions about home foreclosures.

Margery Behrens led off the questioning, asking if the old concept of caveat emptor -- let the buyer beware -- was the only answer for people who are facing home foreclosure.

"Nobody has been held responsible for the information out to the consumers," Behrens said.

Cortez-Masto said real estate personnel are supposed to hand out information as part of their professional license.

Louis DeCanio jumped in, asking, "Do you plan on prosecuting some of these mortgage lenders? Some of these agents have fabricated the documentation. These people made millions and millions of dollars. They were pumping (mortgages) out like an assembly line. It hurt the entire community and nobody's going after them."

Cortez-Masto said unfortunately Nevada ranks high in the number of foreclosures. She warned against buyers who purchase foreclosed homes to inflate the price and described another practice called a "rescue scam."

"'I'm going to come in, I will help you get it out of foreclosure. But what you have to do is sign your deed over to me. I'll give you $500. You sign your deed over to me, to your house. I'll take care of everything.' What the owner doesn't realize is they'll never see their house again; they got $500 and nothing else," Cortez-Masto said.

On top of it, the scam artist can then rent the house to an unsuspecting individual who pays money up front, then is evicted a month later.

Cortez-Masto said her office put together a mortgage fraud strike force, though numerous federal agencies are also investigating. She said home buyers also have to read the fine print and understand what it means before buying a house.

The methamphetamine problem has also been a serious matter around the state, Cortez-Masto said. The attorney general's office will be working with the 12 community coalitions around the state to implement a report issued by a methamphetamine working group last December, which Cortez-Masto said "is not a report that is supposed to go on a shelf, and we never see it again."

Tim Murray, president of the local International Association of Firefighters chapter, asked if first responders, like firefighters and paramedics, should report seeing meth paraphernalia in residences.

"We don't want to be reporting agencies because nobody will be calling us if there's an emergency. They're afraid they're going to get busted," Murray said.

Cortez-Masto said the legislature passed a law declaring homes with meth labs hazardous waste sites. But she said that issue would be raised with the methamphetamine working group.

Robert Hanson had concerns about predatory lending practices by payday loan companies.

Cortez-Masto said legislation was passed to address that problem. But she added, "The bad players are now finding a loophole to find a way around it. So this legislative session we're going to come back and try to put a stop gap in all those loopholes and address that concern."

Bill Yacobozzi asked the attorney general to prevent what happened at the Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada from ever happening in Pahrump. A couple of audience members said they were among the 40,000 people notified to get blood tests due to the reuse of syringes at the Las Vegas clinic.

"That is the most egregious type of medical issue that I have ever seen. It should never, ever occur anywhere," Cortez-Masto said.

While Clark County District Attorney David Rogers has primary jurisdiction, Cortez-Masto said her office will investigate the licenses of the medical professionals and determine whether the regulatory oversight has been sufficient.

Sam Jones said Pahrump residents are frustrated over selective prosecution by the Nye County district attorney's office. Diane Southworth wanted an audit of at least 10 percent of the votes on election night, looking at the paper trail, to be sure results are accurate.

Raelene Palmer, of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the audience to get periodic credit reports to guard against identity theft. People shouldn't carry Social Security cards or credit cards they won't use that day in their wallets. Credit card offers and mortgage solicitations received in the mail should be shredded.

Palmer said her office is pursuing a case against an auto repair company in Las Vegas that failed to perform repairs on marked parts in a sting operation. Her office can now fine businesses up to $10,000 for deceptive trade practices.

Consumers should also beware of free trial offers, particularly on the Internet, that result in additional shipments that are billed to consumers. Buyers should read the fine print, she said.

Brian Kunzi, head of the insurance fraud and workman's compensation fraud unit, was concerned about recent studies which show the percentage of people tolerant of insurance fraud has risen from 20 percent to 25 percent, while those who would like to see vigorous prosecution have dropped from 33 percent to 25 percent. Insurance fraud is an $80 billion per year loss, he said.

"A big problem today is people get upside down with their car loans, they get into these high interest leases, high end vehicles. They can't make the payments. So particularly in Las Vegas, we see almost a daily incident of cars being taken out in the desert and burned. Then they're reported as stolen vehicles," Kunzi said.