Former madam Heidi Fleiss charged in Nevada for growing 400 marijuana plants, but not arrested

In “at least it’s not meth” news, former madam Heidi Fleiss was charged in Nevada for growing over 400 marijuana plants with the “intent to sell.” Fleiss was cooperative with police, so she was not arrested, according to Fox5Vegas.

Last week police went to arrest Heidi, but instead of finding Heidi they discovered over 100 marijuana plants growing in her backyard. Tuesday when they returned they found Heidi on the side of the street walking to a friend’s house and they questioned her. She said she was growing marijuana with the intent to sell to a “Las Vegas cooperative,” but had not obtained the proper licenses. A house search revealed hundreds more plants, grow lights, chemicals and a ballast.

She is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of marijuana over one ounce and possession of drug paraphernalia, among other charges. Cops told TMZ that she was not arrested “due to the fact that she has approximately $200,000 worth of exotic birds in the residence plus she gave us consent to search without a warrant and was very cooperative throughout the investigation.”

In 1993 a young Heidi was busted for running a Hollywood prostitution ring that serviced some of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry. She spent time in prison for tax evasion and money laundering related to her unreported prostitution income (like many organized crime bosses, she was indicted for her failure to report income and pay taxes instead of the actual crimes, which are harder to prove.) After she got out of prison, Heidi struggled with drug addiction, especially with crystal meth, for years and had multiple rehab stints, including a televised one for VH1.

In 2008 Heidi, who was then living in Nevada with a collection of exotic birds she inherited from an older madam friend who died, wanted to start a legal male brothel with the help of her friend Dennis Hof, owner of The Moonlite Bunny Ranch.