LAS VEGAS - - A man and woman who operated a prostitution business in Las Vegas and laundered money through a fast food restaurant they owned in Henderson were arrested today in Gary, Indiana, on federal charges brought in Las Vegas in July 2004, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

LOUIS H. YOUNG, aka Zachary J. Thomas, is charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion and Criminal Forfeiture. NANCY A. ADAMS is charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS and three counts of Tax Evasion. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the Conspiracy and Tax Evasion charges. YOUNG also faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the Money Laundering charge.

According to the Indictment, in January 1999, defendants LOUIS H. YOUNG and NANCY A. ADAMS allegedly traveled from Minnesota to Nevada for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. YOUNG worked as a pimp and ADAMS worked as a prostitute in Las Vegas. They were married in Clark County on November 30, 2001.

From approximately January 1, 1999, to April 15, 2002, YOUNG and ADAMS allegedly
conspired to impede and obstruct the IRS in the computation and collection of their federal income tax. It is alleged that they owned and operated L & N House of Food, a fast food restaurant in Henderson, Nevada, from January 2000 until July 2002, to invest and conceal the income they earned from the prostitution business. In addition to using the business to conceal the income, they allegedly purchased things of value with cash and money orders, used nominee bank accounts, and used nominees to hold legal title to assets. YOUNG made false statements to his bookkeeper/tax return when he informed the bookkeeper that they had no other sources of income for the years 2000 or 2001 other than from L & N House of Food restaurant. YOUNG and ADAMS also failed to file federal income tax returns for 1999, 2000, and 2001, even though they earned a total of $144,033 and $132,026, respectively during those years.

YOUNG and ADAMS appeared in court this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew P. Rodovich in Hammond, Indiana, and were detained pending a hearing on November 1, 2005, at 9:30 a.m. They will appear in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas in the near future for an arraignment on the Indictment.

The case is being investigated by Special Agents with IRS Criminal Investigation and
prosecuted by DOJ Tax Division Trial Attorney Thomas W. Flynn.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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