a federal magistrate on monday declined a prosecutor's request to jail the owner

of a nevada brothel who is accused of possessing and transporting child

pornography in wyoming.

u.s. magistrate william c. beaman ordered david burgess, 55, to remain free on
bail pending his scheduled feb. 4 trial in wyoming.

jim anderson, assistant u.s. attorney, had urged beaman to jail burgess. anderson
emphasized that burgess is a leader of the nevada chapter of the hells angels
motorcycle gang.

burgess is charged with possession and interstate transportation of child

pornography and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of both counts,
according to court records.
burgess pleaded not guilty to the counts monday.

anderson also said burgess has no ties to wyoming and emphasized that burgess
makes his living operating a brothel.

"it's a legal occupation, but i would characterize it as an unsavory occupation,"

anderson said of burgess' ownership of the old bridge ranch, east of reno, nev.

passenger in motor home

the wyoming highway patrol arrested burgess in july. according to a statement from
the patrol, a trooper stopped a freightliner motor home known as the "war wagon"
in which burgess was a passenger. the patrol reported that the trooper made the
stop about three miles east of evanston because the motor home was hauling a
trailer that had an expired registration tag.

according to the highway patrol statement, the driver and burgess were members of
the hells angels. both told police they were heading to the 2007 hells angels usa
run in eureka springs, ark. according to the statement, officers found 14.9 grams
of cocaine in the motor home.

e. dean stout, uinta county prosecuting attorney in evanston, said monday that his
office had filed a state drug charge against burgess in connection with the
cocaine allegation.

however, stout said his office moved to dismiss the state drug charge last month
because the federal child pornography charges carry heavier penalties. stout said
his office could refile the state drug charge if necessary.

anderson said in court monday that a drug dog alerted to the motor home during the
traffic stop. in addition to drugs, he said a search of a laptop computer found in
the motor home determined it was "chock full" of child pornography.

"the computer hard drive reveals literally hundreds and hundreds of still images
of children being sexually abused," anderson said. he said the images were placed
in different folders and were highly organized.

no criminal history
james barrett, assistant federal public defender, represented burgess at monday's
hearing.

"the government says they don't like mr. burgess - that's it," barrett said. he
said burgess has no criminal history and is within his legal rights to operate a
brothel in nevada and to associate with the hells angels.
"that he is in a business of which mr. anderson and a number of others disapprove,
well, that's a shame," barrett said of the brothel. he said everyone involved in
prostitution at the brothel does so willingly.

anderson said he questioned how burgess qualified for representation from the
public defender's office. "it looks to me like the defendant's got a net worth of
several million dollars," he said.

beaman said the prosecution was free to file a petition in court questioning
whether burgess qualified for services from the public defender's office.

fbi agents raided burgess' home in reno in october, but officials declined at the
time to say why. a federal grand jury indicted him this month shortly before his
arrest in nevada.

beaman ordered burgess to remain free on the conditions of release set earlier by
a federal magistrate in nevada.

john powell, spokesman for the u.s. attorney's office in cheyenne, said monday
that the nevada court document setting burgess' conditions of release wasn't a
public record and that he couldn't discuss the conditions. in addition to the
unspecified nevada release conditions, beaman prohibited burgess from having
unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18 and said burgess must allow
random searches of his home computer