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Feb. 08, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Fleiss booked on DUI, drug charges in Pahrump

By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Heidi Fleiss
42-year-old former "Hollywood Madam" freed after paying $1,376 in bail

A trip to a plumbing supply store in Pahrump briefly landed the one-time "Hollywood Madam" back in lockup Thursday morning.

Heidi Fleiss, 42, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and without a license. She also was booked into the Nye County jail for possession of "dangerous drugs" without a prescription.

John Owen, 53, a passenger in Fleiss' sport utility vehicle, was charged with possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

"He's my plumber," Fleiss explained when reached by phone at her home in Pahrump on Thursday afternoon. "I don't even know his last name."

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    • Fleiss said she hired Owen to help her remodel her bathroom. She was parked in the lot of the plumbing supply store, waiting for Owen to come out, when a sheriff's deputy knocked on her window.

    Fleiss said the prescription painkillers tumbled out of her purse as she was searching in vain for her driver's license.

    "It couldn't have been more aggravating," she said. "It was an aggravating day."

    Nye County sheriff's deputies responded at 9:23 a.m. to a report of a possible drunk driver near Emery Street and Oxbow Avenue in central Pahrump.

    Fleiss denied being impaired. She might have swerved her vehicle when she dropped her cell phone, she said, but she passed the field sobriety test with flying colors.

    "Big deal, I've got Vicodin without a prescription handy," she said. "I make no apologies. If I want a Vicodin, I'm having a Vicodin."

    Fleiss said she took one of the pills about an hour before she was stopped by police because she was sore from all the remodeling work she has been doing around the house.

    "I'm 42 years old. I'm not 21," she said. "Every bone in my body is sore."

    Fleiss insisted she has a prescription for the medication, which she got about a year ago "from the dentist or something."

    She said she doesn't keep her pills in the bottle from the pharmacy because she shares her home with two dozen parrots that easily can bite through the plastic.

    Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said the six pills confiscated from Fleiss would be tested to identify them.

    But Fleiss hinted that Vicodin might not be the only thing to turn up in the blood sample authorities took from her Thursday.

    She said she was in Los Angeles on Wednesday for a court date on a civil case she is involved in. She was "pissed off" that the judge wouldn't listen to her, so after the hearing she went to a girlfriend's house to "party and do some bad stuff."

    Fleiss wouldn't say what "bad stuff" she did.

    "Well, I don't do heroin," she said. "I don't drink. I haven't had a drink in years."

    She added, "I don't care what it (the blood test) shows."

    Fleiss was released about noon after paying $1,376 bail. She returned to the jailhouse a short time later to bail out Owen, which cost her $1,264.

    "I'm not going to just leave him in there," she said. "What kind of person would do that?"

    Fleiss earned her nickname in the early 1990s, when she ran a high-priced ring of call girls in Hollywood. Then she got busted and was sent to prison, becoming a bigger celebrity than some of her clients.

    She made headlines again in late 2005 when she moved to Nye County and announced plans for a brothel for women called Heidi's Stud Farm in the tiny town of Crystal, about 20 miles north of Pahrump.

    Those plans have yet to materialize, but Fleiss did open a laundromat last year in Pahrump, a town of 39,000 about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. The business, across the highway from where she was arrested Thursday, is called Dirty Laundry.

    Fleiss said her only regret is how she looks in her mug shot. She said she hadn't showered and her clothes were covered with bathroom grout and bird droppings.

    Before Fleiss can open a brothel in Nye County, she will need the approval of the county's liquor and licensing board.

    DeMeo, who serves on that panel, said he couldn't comment on whether Fleiss' arrest might hurt her chances of getting a brothel license, should she ever apply for one.

    He did say that the incident "would be taken into consideration" along with everything else that comes up during a background check or is already a matter of public record.

    "Remember, everybody's innocent until proven guilty," DeMeo said.

    For her part, Fleiss said she doesn't care if Thursday's arrest keeps her from getting a brothel license. "All I care about is that I can never be kept away from my birds."

    Review-Journal writer Scott Wyland contributed to this report. Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0350.



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    BFS wrote on February 10, 2008 03:46 AM: Yikes! Me thinks Heidi's OD'ed on some FUGLY pills!


    BJS wrote on February 08, 2008 05:12 PM: I will be keeping an eye on this one. NCSO has a long history of rights violations beginning with "probable cause",usually ending with the JP/Judge ignoring the rules of evidence unless the issue is forced by counsel.
    Will Ms. Fleiss be railroaded?
    Stay tuned for the next installment of "All Pahrump's Children".


    Purgatory wrote on February 08, 2008 04:11 PM: ...heya mission031 and others...here's the point...if one man can imprison another man over something as arbitrary & capricious as how you choose to carry prescribed medicines, then sooner or later we could all have a matter that deems us criminals...that is a very scary proposition that we should all guard against...you are welcome or not to accept the point as valid...be well...


    dwc wrote on February 08, 2008 02:47 PM: OK, so I got more curious and searched through the NRS using the keyword "prescription" which returned 58 statutes, none of which say you have to carry a prescription with you for your prescribed medication. Can somebody point me in the right direction if I'm facing wrong on this issue?


    . wrote on February 08, 2008 02:44 PM: .


    dwc wrote on February 08, 2008 02:43 PM: Which rule (law) is it that says you have to carry a prescription with you? And which rule (law) grants anybody the authority to demand proof of prescription? Not trying to be snotty, but, is this really law? Is an asthmatic going to be booked because his/her inhaler lacks proper documentation? I mean, I could see if you have something like medical marijuana, there IS a special caveat when you're issued permission from the state, but the state doesn't issue permission for antibiotics or any other run-of-the-mill prescription pill. Seriously, or are we all just assuming that we have to submit to unreasonable searches just because some other human has "suspicion?"

    If you're perfectly willing to do so, that's your choice, good for you for making a choice. But for the critical thinker or plain old liberty-admirer...?


    mission031 wrote on February 08, 2008 01:07 PM: Thats right Purgatory, if you're gonna carry any kind of presciption pills, then you need to follow the rules and have them in their orginal container or have a copy of the prescription on you. And same goes with driving or being in physical control of a vehicle...you need to be SOBER to do so. If you don't like it, then move somewhere else where our "zealous government" can't get you.


    The Donald wrote on February 08, 2008 12:02 PM: Heidi, you've come a long ways since your days living in a $5 million house in LA, pimping out scores of beautiful girls to hard up actors and directors, from having it all....Look At You Now! Living in Pahrump, NV with a flock of birds. They should do an E True Hollywood Story of you fall from fame & wealth.


    Zanna wrote on February 08, 2008 11:37 AM: Wow...she looks just like steven tyler


    noonecaresbU wrote on February 08, 2008 11:33 AM: Remember, everybody's innocent until proven guilty," DeMeo said. HO HO HO and I believe in the Easter Bunny.

    And the name of her ranch was going to be called the Cherry ranch I read when did she change it?


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