Judge: ‘Significant Chance’ of Ordering Love Ranch Brothel Opened

After Nye County, Nevada, revoked the license to operate a legal brothel held by flamboyant, self-described “pimp” Dennis Hof earlier this month, a judge on Wednesday said that he is likely to reverse the county’s decision to shut down Hof’s Love Ranch South brothel in Crystal, Nevada. The Love Ranch South is located about a half an hour by car from Pahrump, Nevada, where Hof resides and where he is currently the Republican candidate for state assembly. The brothel is situated slightly more than one hour outside of Las Vegas. Hof last week filed a lawsuit in United States District Court in Nevada, seeking to overturn the Nye County decision, which the county’s Liquor and Licensing Board said was the result of Hof’s failure to pay fees in a timely fashion and to file his license renewal application.  On Wednesday morning, federal Judge Richard Boulware reviewed the status of Hof’s brothel licenses and set a hearing for Monday, August 27, to allow both Hof and the county to present evidence as to why the Love Ranch should remain closed, or—as Hof is demanding—be reopened. According to Las Vegas Sun reporter Mick Akers, at Wednesday’s court session, Boulware said that he sees a “significant chance” that he will grant Hof’s request and order the brothel to reopen. The judge’s statement came the day after a raucous hearing before the commissioners, at which a number of Nye County residents rallied in support of Hof—including onetime “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss. “Can we settle this with Dennis without lawsuits and all these people complaining?” Fleiss said at the public meeting, according to a report in the Sun by Akers. “Can we find middle ground here? Would you rather have the lawsuits? There are other ways of doing this than closing down the business where a lot of people are affected.” One of those people affected appears to be Fleiss herself, who is now in talks to buy the Love Ranch South brothel from Hof, according to the Sun report. But at least one resident, Dave Stevens, spoke against reopening the brothel, saying that legal brothels were “giving this town a bad name.” “The board had to warn the largely pro-Hof crowd to quiet down as Stevens spoke, threatening to have them removed as they jeered him,” Akers reported. Photo by Daniel Dacumos / Wikimedia Commons