Ex-Nye County official arrested in land scheme

Former Nye County commissioner Henry Neth was arrested Thursday at his Pahrump home on embezzlement and securities fraud charges in connection with a land sale scheme.

Investigators with the secretary of state's office said Neth and his partner, Eric Frye, took millions of dollars from investors to buy land under a company named Stockton Jane LLC, then diverted the money for personal use and to buy land in their own names.

Frye, of Arizona, is facing one count of embezzlement.

Neth, a prominent real estate developer in Pahrump, is alleged to have misappropriated $2.4 million raised from 30 to 40 investors, telling them the money would be used to buy 252 acres in his proposed High Valley Ranch Estates development near Kingman, Ariz.

Neth told investors they would receive annual returns of more than 120 percent.

"This appears to be a case in which investors thought they would be getting an unheard-of return, perhaps because the suspect had held elected office in the community," Secretary of State Ross Miller said in a statement from his office.

A criminal complaint filed May 7 by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto states Neth and Frye used the money to purchase land in their own names.

"So he took our money and bought land for himself," Las Vegas investor Jonathan Baktari told the Review-Journal when he sued Neth last year. "We don't even own the land and never will, even though he pretended like we did."

A message left for Neth with Provenza Neth Properties was not returned Thursday.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.