Former brothel owner loses conviction appeal

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A former Nevada brothel owner's conviction and 15-year prison sentence on federal charges of possessing and transporting child pornography have been upheld.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver last week affirmed the convictions of David Burgess.

"There can be no doubt, let alone a grave doubt, that Burgess knowingly possessed child pornography as he traveled from Nevada into Wyoming," the appeals court ruling states.

Burgess, 56, was a charter member of a Nevada chapter of the Hells Angels and was the owner of the Old Bridge Ranch, a legal brothel near Reno.

Burgess was convicted and sentenced in federal court in Wyoming last year. Prosecutors say investigators found a vast collection of child pornography on two computer hard drives they confiscated from Burgess' motorhome during a traffic stop in western Wyoming two years ago.

A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Burgess' motorhome for having an expired trailer registration tag on Interstate 80 on July 24, 2007. Authorities have said that Burgess and another member of the Hells Angels were taking the motorhome to a club meeting in Arkansas when they were stopped.

Police searched the motorhome and also found marijuana and cocaine, according to court records. Officers then got a search warrant to look into Burgess' laptop computer and associated computer hard drives for evidence of drug-trafficking. The two hard drives contained about 70,000 images of child pornography, the appeals court ruling states.

U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson denied Burgess' request at trial to suppress the images. Burgess had argued that searching the computer equipment for child pornography violated his constitutional rights when the original investigation only had focused on illegal drugs. The appeals court also ruled that the computer search was permissible.

Denver lawyer Norman Mueller, who represented Burgess on appeal, did not immediately respond to telephone messages seeking comment on Monday. Federal prosecutor James Anderson of Cheyenne who prosecuted Burgess in Wyoming and argued against his appeal, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

John Powell, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne, said Monday that the office believes Burgess' initial sentence was appropriate and also supports the appeals court ruling.