United States v. Norman Lester Dacus, Nevada Land Builders, Inc., Green Saddle Ranch Co.

Norman L. Dacus (Dacus) appeals from his conviction on thirteen counts of selling unregistered lots from a subdivision in violation of the Interstate Lands Sales Act (the Act), 15 U.S.C. § 1703 (a)(1). He is joined in his appeal by two corporate defendants which stand convicted of various counts of the same offense.

Between the spring of 1972 and the summer of 1977, Dacus, some other individuals and the two corporate defendants, offered and sold to members of the public a number of lots from various developments in Pah-rump Valley, Nye County, Nevada. Dacus, individually and through his corporations, either owned or obtained brokerage rights to a number of parcels of land in the Pah-rump Valley. During the period of the indictments, Dacus marketed the lots through one main office. He used a number of salesmen to show lots to prospective purchasers and advertised all eight development parcels in which he had ownership or brokerage interests under a common name, usually “Pahrump” or “Nevada Land Builders, Inc.”. In the course of his sales business, Dacus employed the mails and various means of interstate transportation and communication.

None of the developments, which included…