Retired IRS Agent Pleads Guilty in Pimping Case

A retired special agent with the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division has pleaded guilty to charges of transporting a California woman across state lines to Las Vegas for the purpose of prostitution.

Prosecutors agreed to drop one of the criminal counts against him for traveling to California with the intent to promote and manage prostitution. As part of the plea deal, Kemp Shiffer, 58, of Reno, Nev., agreed Wednesday to forfeit a 2006 Mercedes Benz, an iPhone, computer and various cameras.

According to prosecutors, on about July 25, 2011, Shiffer allegedly traveled from California to Nevada with an individual, identified in the indictment as “C.M.,” with the intent for her to engage in prostitution and other illegal sexual activity in Nevada.

He faces up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 when he is sentenced, according to the Associated Press. Sentencing is scheduled for February 14.

Shiffer had been the lead IRS investigator of Joe Conforte, the owner of the notorious Mustang Ranch brothel, which led to its forfeiture to the federal government in 1990. The brothel was later auctioned off and sold to another operator. Later, Shiffer decided to get into the business for himself, and in 2006, he and his attorney invested in establishing another luxurious Nevada brothel known as Petticoat Junction. However, county officials denied them a permit to open it.

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