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Former NV madam leads helps prostitutes
By Geralda Miller

Sharnel Silvey rides around downtown several times a month with the Reno Police Department’s Regional Street Enforcement Team, eager to talk to the women who will get trapped in a sting operation while soliciting for prostitution.

She approaches a tall, thin woman who stands handcuffed next to an unmarked car, and lets her know she’s not a police officer. She tells her she’s there to assist her and offers her a free HIV test.

“I’m not here to tell them to stop. I am about walking the process out with them,” Silvey said. “It’s hard for a woman that’s in the industry to be able to talk to just anybody about the industry. It’s different. It’s a whole other world.”

Silvey knows and cares about women in the sex industry because she worked for 13 years at Mustang Ranch, first as the “right-hand woman” for former brothel boss Joe Conforte and later as its madam.

In 2007, she founded A Scarlet Covering, a nonprofit organization that offers recovery, counseling, education and development for current and former members of the sex industry who want a new life.

Since then, she’s visited several brothels and strip clubs in northern Nevada. When visiting a brothel, she gives a dozen roses to each working woman.

“Then, we go back to any establishment that we’ve been to during that year at Christmastime and bring baked goods and gifts for the girls,” Silvey said. “Let them know, ‘Hey, we’re still here. We still love you.’”

Last month she finalized arrangements with Washoe County Municipal Court for a specialty court for prostitution. Members of A Scarlet Covering will help assess the needs of the men, women and children who come before the court.