Stripper News

Matthew Fox caught in a sex scandal with a stripper More at : Matthew Fox caught in a sex scandal with a stripper

2010-02-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

The ‘Lost’ star Matthew Fox appears to be involved in a sex scandal, over reports that he cheated on his wife of 19 years, with a stripper. However Matthew Fox’s representative has spoken in the actor’s defense, and said that all the accusations made by the stripper are totally false, and are just made with the intention of ‘financial gain.’

A stripper Stefani Talbott came forward with her story, and said that she first met Matthew Fox in July 2009, while she was working at the Stars Cabaret in Bend, Oregon. She says that she locked eyes with the 43-year-old star, and subsequently he came to her, and they started having a conversation, which marked the start of their acquaintance. Stefani Talbott says that, “He asked me, ‘Why are you working in a place like this?’ I told him that I am a single mum and needed the money. He absolutely did not mention a wife or family, and I don’t remember him wearing a wedding ring.” She also revealed that then she was invited to Fox’s home and they continued their tryst there. She says about going to his rented accommodation that, “We sat around and talked about his show. He complimented me and was saying how down-to-earth I am. He told me he was going to be in town for a couple of days.”

Then Stefani says that the things progressed in such a manner, that soon they were in the bedroom, and had unprotected sex. She also divulges that Fox wasn’t concerned about protection at all.

*from www.thaindian.com

Crystal Gail Mangum, stripper in Duke lacrosse rape case, charged with arson and attempted murder

2010-02-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

The stripper who falsely cried rape and ruined the reputations of three Duke University lacrosse players was charged with trying to stab her lover, police said Thursday.

Cops responding to a 911 call found an out-of-control Crystal Gail Mangum battling her boyfriend and screaming, "I am going to stab you \[expletive\]."

The 33-year-old woman then tried to burn boyfriend Milton Walker's clothes in a bathtub, a Durham, N.C., police report states.

Mangum resisted being arrested and gave cops a false first name, Marella, and age, the report states.

Her three kids - ages 3, 9 and 10 - were in the house at the time but were not injured.

The exotic dancer was charged with attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, assault and battery, resisting arrested, child abuse and other offenses.

Mangum, who is black, became infamous in 2006, when she accused three white Duke students of gang-raping her at an off-campus bash.

On the strength of Mangum's claims, the athletes were indicted. But the rape charges were later dropped after Mangum told North Carolina prosecutors she was no longer sure whether anyone had sex with her.

By then, Duke had booted the athletes out of school and their names and reputations were badly damaged.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was later disbarred over his handling of the racially-charged case.

The troubled accuser was not charged with making false accusations because investigators concluded she actually believed the tales she told.

It also turned out the Duke case wasn't the first time Mangum had accused men of harming her. In 1996, she told cops she had been kidnapped and raped three years earlier - when she was 14.

The case was never pursued.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/18/2010-02-18_crystal_gail_mangum_stripper_in_duke_lacrosse_rape_case_charged_with_arson_and_a.html#ixzz0g8icwVQi

Stripper Mobile Takes Show on the Road to Tampa

2010-02-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Banned in Las Vegas, the "Stripper Mobile" which turned heads in Las Vegas has found a new home in Tampa. But for how long?

The roaming stripper vehicle, which rode down to Miami for Super Bowl weekend and is now back in Tampa Bay, is under the watchful eye of the Tampa Police Dept. to see whether it violates any laws.

"Our attorney is looking at the way (the dancers are) dressed and obviously some of the gestures that they are doing (to see) if that is a violation of some sort of city ordinance or state law," Tampa Police spokeswoman Andrea Davis told 10Connects in Tampa. But she also told the CBS affiliate that so far it doesn't appear the "Stripper Mobile" has violated any laws.

The stripper vehicle, with plexiglas sides and a stripper pole inside, roams the streets while the strippers dance. By design, the dancers are not wearing seatbelts. The police department says it does not appear that not being buckled is a violation.

*from prnewschannel.com

NBA All-Star Game also attracts other pros - strippers, prostitutes

2010-02-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

The NBA All-Star Game is a celebration of basketball, but for many in town now, it's as much a celebration of decadence.

Along with limousines, free-flowing champagne and celebrity-filled parties comes booming business in the sex industries – both legal and illegal. Local officials think significant numbers of prostitutes and strippers already have made their way to North Texas seeking a huge male audience with disposable income.

Both groups are getting scrutiny this week as Cowboys Stadium hosts probably its highest-profile event since its opening last year.

Dallas police already have announced a crackdown on prostitution during All-Star Game Week. Arlington police unveiled a new effort this week to bust online hookers, but department officials said it was unrelated to the All-Star Game. The city's Special Events Enforcement Team also will be monitoring sexually oriented businesses to ensure that they are operating legally and complying with "no touch" restrictions.

It's widely understood that sex is big business at sports mega-events, but it's tough to put numbers on the lusty and sometimes dark side of the All-Star Game.

A trade association for adult nightclubs estimates that the number of dancers in the Dallas area could increase by as much as 25 percent to handle the extra business.

Figures are tougher to come by when the business is illegal. But experts say the total is probably far lower than the estimate, circulating on the Internet, that as many as 100,000 prostitutes will travel to North Texas for next year's Super Bowl.

"Any of us who are considered experts in the field are not going to give you a number," said Melissa Farley, a researcher and anti-prostitution activist. "No one has ever measured that. You can't."

She said the best estimates sometimes come from arrest figures, but those reflect only a small and unknown percentage of what's really happening on the streets, escort Web sites and massage parlors.

*from dallasnews.com

Stripper boss fined R20000 for assaults

2010-02-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

Stripper king Lolly Jackson must pay a R20000 fine or spend two years in jail after pleading guilty to shooting a former employee with rubber bullets, and other charges.

Half of his sentence was suspended for five years. Jackson will go to jail if convicted of assault again.

On Wednesday, Jackson entered into a plea agreement with a Randburg Magistrate's Court prosecutor and pleaded guilty to three counts of assault involving former employees and dating back to 2007.

In September, he had denied the allegations before the same court after handing himself over at the Sandton police station, where he was detained for eight hours.

Yesterday, he told The Time she had pleaded guilty for "commercial" reasons.

"I made a commercial decision, that's all, that's my comment," he said.

Jackson confessed to shooting former employee Thandi Maya with a paintball gun loaded with rubber bullets near his Teazers strip club in Randburg in 2008.

Jackson, 53, admitted in court papers that he had asked a man called Nukendi Pitshou to "moer " Maya.

Pitshou had punched Maya in the ribs before kicking him repeatedly, he said.

Jackson also pleaded guilty to asking Pitshou and another man, named as Manzoeno Tshien Tshien, to assault someone in 2007.

Jackson did not give reasons for the attacks.

Asking for leniency, Jackson said he supported three of his four children and employed 1300 people.

He had "severe heart disease" and had undergone a quadruple heart bypass operation in 1999.

He said he donated money to charities, including the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the SPCA, and the Place of Safety for Abused Women and Children, in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg.

Jackson said his previous convictions were for "non-violent incidents" and that he was willing to pay Maya and Nhandolo R1000 each for their pain and suffering.

Jackson is a magnet for controversy. In December, Johannesburg businessman Michael Kalymnios claimed Jackson threatened him after he fell in love with a Russian stripper employed by Jackson.

Kalymnios met Yuliyana Moshorovska in January last year and took her on seven dates, for each of which he reportedly had to pay R5000.

Kalymnios claimed Jackson demanded R50000 because, he said, Moshorovska was under contract to him as a stripper.

Last year Jackson became the first South African to own the world's fastest production car, the Koenigsegg CCX, which reportedly cost him R14-million.

In 2006, a house belonging to Jackson that was being used to accommodate some of his strippers burned down.

It was then that he said that he would start attending church to rid himself of the bad luck plaguing him.

*from timeslive.co.za

Blackwater charged U.S. government for prostitute and strippers, ex-employees allege

2010-02-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Unsealed court documents from a pending lawsuit allege that the security firm Blackwater Worldwide defrauded the federal government for various expenses, including the cost of an on-staff prostitute, strippers, alcohol, false and double billings, among other things. Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to Xe Services shortly after the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in September of 2007.

The lawsuit was filed by a married couple by the name of Brad and Melan Davis who both had previously worked for the company at one time. The New York Times reported that Melan Davis, who did bookkeeping for the company stated that when she questioned the fraudulent expenses, she was fired in February 2008 for the inquiry. Her husband Brad Davis, who worked in security, left the company voluntarily.

The lawsuit accuses Blackwater of hiring a prostitute for male Blackwater employees in Kabul, Afghanistan, and billing her salary and travel expenses under a “Morale Welfare Recreation” expense category.

Also, travel was allegedly billed to the United States government without any documentation. Ms. Davis stated that while on a trip for the company in Amman, Jordan, the company had her and two other employees create, as reported in The Washington Post, “reams of false invoices at inflated rates so that her Blackwater bosses could overcharge the government for the travel.”

Davis’ lawsuit also claims that Blackwater doubled billed air travel between the United States and Amman, using a subsidiary company named Greystone, Limited. Amman was the company’s hub location for the transport of its employees to and from Iraq.

In addition, according to the Associated Press, the lawsuit charges that during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Blackwater workers charged payments made to strippers under a “cleaning services” charge, and billed the government accordingly.

The lawsuit falls under the False Claims Act. With this law, whistleblowers can collect a percentage of the money recovered in cases where companies are found guilty of defrauding the government.

Xe Services has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.

*from examiner.com

Josh Duhamel Stripper 'Pregnant With His Child'

2010-02-10T19:31:00.001-08:00

JOSH Duhamel is set to become a dad if these latest reports are to be believed!

Nicole Forrester — the stripper who Josh allegedly had an affair with this past fall — has been telling friends that she is “95 percent certain” she’s carrying the married actor’s unborn child.

“Yes, I’m pregnant,” Forrester said, according to American tabloid the National Enquirer. “Yes, it’s probably Josh’s. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do.”

Although the Transformers star — who’s wed to Black Eyed Peas star Fergie — vehemently denied claims of an affair, Nicole passed a rigorous independently administered polygraph test that showed she was telling the truth about her marathon sex session with the 37-year-old actor.

“Nicole told me she’s three-and-a-half months pregnant. She said, ‘I’m carrying a million dollar baby!’” a source added.

*from Showbizspy.com

Channing Tatum gives Ellen DeGeneres a lap dance

2010-02-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

Channing Tatum appeared on Ellen today not so much to promote Dear John, but more to promote that male stripper movie he’d like to make.

Ellen DeGeneres, who seemed surprised enough when Channing made his entrance dancing to make me think she’s never seen Step Up (!), was quick to bring up his stripper past as they sat in front of the fake fire. Just as he did in that Details cover story, he said he’s not proud of his all-male-revue past but he’s not ashamed of it either. DeGeneres wanted a show, and she got one. But it only lasted about two seconds. “You back it up like that?” Ellen said as the crowd (and Channing) howled. “Now I’m embarrassed,” he said. Ellen lamented the fact that she didn’t have a dollar to keep him going; he said that one was on the house.

The funniest part of the chat came when Channing described the weirder moments of the job. “You’d have some ladies be like, ‘Oh, you remind me of my nephew,’ and you’re kinda like [makes face as he continues grinding].” It made me think back to my sister’s 2001 bachelorette party in Las Vegas, the first and only time I’ve been at a male strip club. I distinctly remember one of her friends reenacting the moment she found herself asking her dancer, Sultan, where he was from (Michigan, I believe).

Judging from the audience’s reaction to Channing’s “I was a stripper!” announcement — and the woman left crying after he went into the audience to earn $1,000 for Haiti relief for every person he hugged and kissed (look how far he’s come!) — that stripper film is probably looking good to some studio exec right now.

*from popwatch.ew.com

Paris job centre offers jobless woman work as online stripper!

2010-02-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

An unemployed woman in Paris is said to have been left in shock after she was offered work as an Internet stripper by an official job centre.

The 29-year-old, who calls herself as Kenza, was told she could earn 2,000 pounds a month by using a web cam.

"I was told to wear wigs and heavy make-up so people wouldn't recognise me," the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

"It was all super shocking - the boundary between prostitution and this kind of thing is very thin," she stated.

But a spokesman for the job centre defended the job offer.

"This was legal. There is nothing to prevent sex industry adverts," he said. (ANI)

Jury awards ex-Stripper $100K for DUI wreck

2010-02-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

A Jefferson County jury has awarded a former stripper $100,000 in a lawsuit in which she claimed the club that employed her failed to stop her from driving home after her on-the-job drinking. Patsy Hamaker of Bessemer was injured in a wreck after leaving work at The Furnace on Oct. 17, 2007. She said she can no longer dance because of her injuries.

Hamaker said the club disregarded its own safety rules when it let her drive home that night. Attorneys for the club argued that employees tried to keep Hamaker from driving away.

The Birmingham News reported that the jury award made Tuesday is for compensatory damages. No punitive damages were awarded.

Air workers in calendar stripper row

2008-12-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Airport staff were banned from making a nude charity calendar because bosses thought it might put off potential buyers of Gatwick.

The fundraiser for children with cerebral palsy was to feature 40 men posing for raunchy shots round the site.

It had won the backing of the managing director.

But just as workers were ready to strip, the new director of communications banned the shoot as he felt it was inappropriate.

Calendar organiser Alan Skinner was told bad press could affect the airport's sale.

The BAA security guard said: "I've no idea how a calendar with workers raising funds for charity would influence this. If anything it would have shown we're a forward thinking company. I'm sure we'd have sold hundreds."

BAA Gatwick replied: "The idea showed real creativity, but the calendar boys theme was felt inappropriate in a work situation. It is important we work hard to protect the airport's reputation."

Stripper Idol Under Fire From American Idol

2008-12-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

Stripper Idol Under Fire From American Idol was a top story for this week. Here it is again: (TMZ) The people behind "American Idol" love amateurs -- just not the kind you find in strip clubs. FremantleMedia -- the massive corporation that created "American Idol" -- is suing the owners of the Palazio Men's Club in Texas -- which the suit describes as "a gentlemen's club at which women remove off their clothes while dancing to music" -- over a $500 stripper competition they held called "Stripper Idol."

In the lawsuit, filed this week in U.S District Court in Texas, Fremantle claims Palazio's competition -- which allegedly jacked Idol's name and trademarked logo -- has tarnished the singing show's good name.

Fremantle is looking to strip away the club's profits from "S.I." -- along with collecting on all damages sustained and legal fees accrued from the suit.

The club's owner, Lampros, told us: "I don't feel they have any grounds to sue ... This is just our way of inticing [sic] people to come out and have a good time and contribute to the economic crisis that is going on."

Melbourne CBD shooting victim Kaera Douglas 'tortured by guilt'

2008-10-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ms Douglas is tormented by the horror of June 18, 2007, which left Brendan Keilar dead, while Ms Douglas and Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard fought for their lives in hospital.

Ms Douglas, then 24, was shot in the stomach and had to have a kidney removed.

In her first interview since convicted killer Christopher Wayne Hudson's drug-fuelled city attack, Ms Douglas said she had finally started moving on with her life.

She said the past 15 months had been the worst of her life, fighting anxiety, guilt and anorexia. But it's the emotional scars that had pained her the most.

Mr Keilar and Mr de Waard were both shot when they ran to her aid.

"I couldn't put into words what I feel for him (Mr Keilar)," she said. "There's nothing I could say that would make it better.

"How do you say, 'I'm sorry.'? How do you say, 'Thank you.'?

"I want to say to all the young girls out there who ever think of taking a drug, who ever think of dancing, dating a bikie, don't do what I did - it's not pretty, there's nothing glamorous, nothing cool about it.

"In your worst nightmares you could not imagine how low it was.

"But I only look forward now, not back."

Ms Douglas said she had been back to the site of the shooting.

She had also tried to contact Mr Keilar's family but they did not wish to meet her.

Stripper arrested after hitting party guest with SUV

2008-09-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

A woman was arrested over the weekend and charged with running down a man in an SUV after a dispute at a party where the woman performed as a stripper.

Hanna Whipple, 28, is in the Virginia Beach Jail charged with felonious assault.

Police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said the incident occurred late Saturday night, after Whipple danced at a bachelor party in a Town Center apartment complex. He said a dispute arose between Whipple and some of the party guests. After she was finished performing, she left the party and went to her Toyota 4Runner in the parking garage on Columbus Street.

One of the men from the party approached her, and she drove her SUV at him and struck him. Barnes said the 33-year-old man sustained a broken collarbone and a fractured leg. He was transported to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, where a spokeswoman said he remains in stable condition.

Whipple was arrested on Sunday without incident, Barnes said.

Mayor in hot water over stripper murder

2008-09-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

HE IS just an ordinary 15-year-old boy who wants to know what happened to his murdered mother. Yet Jonathan Bond’s painful and protracted quest for justice has plunged him into the heart of an explosive political scandal that has shaken Detroit and wrecked the career of one of America’s most promising young black politicians.

Bond is the son of Tamara Greene, a statuesque black stripper known as Strawberry, whose murder in 2003 triggered an avalanche of allegations about mayoral misconduct and police cover-ups.

The case pits Kwame Kilpatrick, the charismatic 37-year-old mayor of one of America’s most blighted cities, against a teenage plaintiff who is seeking R1.14billion ( 150million) in damages for allegedly covering up and obstructing an investigation into his mother’s murder.

At the heart of the Kilpatrick case is a hotly disputed account of a supposed party at Manoogian Mansion, the city-owned mayor’s official residence.

It was there in late 2002, according to court documents, that Strawberry was hired to perform at a raucous party allegedly attended by Kilpatrick, several police officers and “nude exotic dancers”.

The mayor, his police chief and numerous other city officials have denied that any such party took place.

Six months after the supposed party, Greene, 27, was shot 18 times as she drove to her boyfriend’s home.

The police lieutenant initially in charge of the murder investigation quickly concluded that Greene had been specifically targeted by a contract killer. Lieutenant Alvin Bowman has since testified in a sworn affidavit that his attempts to investigate reports about the party and Kilpatrick’s wife’s alleged involvement were blocked by the mayor and his staff.

“We haven’t sued the mayor for having a party,” Bond’s lawyer, Norman Yatooma said. “We’ve sued him for obstructing the murder investigation. And it seems pretty plain that this investigation was obstructed for no justifiable reason.”

Stripper stabs man during dance

2008-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

An Orange County guy hires a stripper to dance for him at his apartment.

She's dancin' away. Something happens. They get into an argument.

She stabs him to "defend herself,'' reports Local 6 News.

Heather Chadwell to Host Stripper Competition at Strippers & Hustlers Ball, Labor Day Weekend, Las Vegas

2008-08-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Heather Chadwell, model, TV personality, and a former stripper herself, has joined the All-Star lineup for Perry Mann's Exotic Erotic Strippers and Hustlers Ball, August 30 and 31 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Heather will host the stripper competition, featuring top performers from Déjà vu, Hustler, Olympic Gardens, Palomino, and Club Paradise. They'll compete for over $20,000 in cash and prizes. Bobbi Billard, Akira Lane, and Penthouse POY Erica Ellyson will judge.

"We are happy to have Heather aboard," says Ball producer Howard Mauskopf. "She is smart, sexy, funny, and knows the stripper business from all sides. Heather will be the color commentator for the competition, and I don't think there was a better choice on all of planet Earth."

"I love hosting cool events like this," adds Chadwell, star of VH1's "Rock of Love" 1 and 2 and current hit "I Love Money." "Besides, Vegas is my home, strippers are my sisters, and these guys produce hot shows. Labor Day weekend -- my favorite place -- what could be better?"

The Strippers & Hustlers Ball fills The Orleans Arena for two nights -- August 30 and 31. Opening night spotlights house music by Richard Vission, Mobius8, Scooter and Lavelle, and Drummer KC. Second night features live rock and metal by Gilby Clarke from Guns N' Roses, The Genitorturers, D'Amato and Girls Girls Girls. The stripper competition takes place on both nights, and the show also boasts the nation's top burlesque artists, the world's sexiest emcee, the planet's most downloaded supermodel, the largest ever girl-on-girl pillow fight, and now -- with the addition of Chadwell -- America's #1 reality TV personality.

"I'm doing this a long time, but between music, burlesque, celebrities, and strippers -- this might be the greatest talent lineup we've ever assembled," says Perry Mann, who founded the Exotic Erotic Ball. "Then again, we wanted to go over the top because -- it's Vegas, baby!"

The two-day show is Saturday and Sunday, August 30 & 31 from 9PM til 4AM, at The Orleans Arena, Las Vegas. The website is strippersandhustlersball.com. All tickets and a limited number of discounted hotel/ticket packages are available online.

Army hero’s past as a male stripper

2008-07-27T14:09:00.001-07:00

FACING down the Taliban in the life-threatening theatre of war is all in a day’s work for Lee Morris.

But it was not that long ago the former professional stripper was running away from a gang of women looking to rip his pants off.

Lee hit the headlines this week for helping to save fellow injured soldiers on the front line in Afghanistan. He was one of nine members of the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment caught up in a gun battle in the Upper Gereshk Valley in Helmand Province.

Lee, of Nantyglo, Blaenau Gwent, suffered shrapnel wounds but raced into dangerous territory on a quad bike to rescue injured comrades. But for five years, the 28-year-old led a completely different life.

The former upholstery worker was part of the world famous Dreamboys and would jet off to sun-drenched islands and perform in his alter egos as Blaze and Stryker.

“Lee absolutely loved it,” said his dad Mickey, 48.

“I think he just plucked the names Blaze and Stryker from the air. His first gig was in the Manor Hotel in Crickhowell in 2000. I’m not sure how he got into it but I know he used to laugh when I would take my top off and dance after having a few drinks.”

After the gigs built up in his home town, Lee was spotted by a professional stripper linked to the Dreamboys.

“Lee would get lots of requests to do 40th or 18-year-old birthday parties,” said Mickey, who owns eight Welsh Cob Stallions and has been showing them off at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells.

“He would go around Brynmawr and Blaina, entertaining the women. My advice to him was always, be careful. Sometimes he ended up doing freebies and it cost him to put on shows because he used to buy props. When he was asked to join the Dreamboys, he travelled to lots of Spanish resorts such as Playa del Ingles and across the Canaries.

“He’d go out there for the summer then come home for Christmas and spend all his money, before going back out. He did that for about three years.”

But it didn’t always run smoothly.

Mickey said: “There was one gig in Birmingham when things got out of control. There were about 2,000 women in the audience and some were asked to join the dancers. All of a sudden, about a dozen climbed up and stormed the stage, knocking people over. Lee legged it.”

Lee eventually split with the group and went solo, performing as a kissogram, collecting all manner of suits.

“One night I was lying on the settee and Lee came in,” said Mickey, who used to spar with Joe Calzaghe in his Newbridge gym.

“He was carrying a small axe over his shoulder and he had a big grin on his face. I said, ‘what have you been up to tonight?’. He turned round and said, ‘I’ve been awesome’. What I meant was, who did he dress up as – a fireman as it turned out. That’s Lee in a nutshell. Full of life and ready for anything. He absolutely loved to strut his stuff.”

However, there were nights when Lee was left stranded in a pub with no clothes.

Mickey, who worked for British Coal for 12 years and is now manager at Ebbw Vale Festival Park, said: “Sometimes there were people – boyfriends or husbands, for example – who didn’t like the idea of a stripper performing. I had a call one night from Lee, asking me to take him his spare car keys. Someone had pinched his gear and he was left naked.”

Lee drifted out of stripping by training as a hairdresser in Cardiff and also went into modelling, before signing up for the Army.

“I don’t know what persuaded him to sign up,” said Mickey.

“He could’ve seen an advert in a magazine and thought, I’ll have some of that. Lee is impulsive and acts on the spur of the moment. But I really do think he’ll excel in the Army. At first I thought it was a status thing for him, so he could tell people he was a Paratrooper. But he’s committed and has made some close friends. He has experienced some pretty horrendous things in Afghanistan and spoken about the terror of bombs going off close by. As a father, obviously I worry about him and want him to be safe.”

Lee is due home on leave and his dad can’t wait. “I’m thinking of organising some kind of party for him.

“Maybe I’ll book some strippers,” Mickey said.

Vice girl apology, sorry for Mosley's wife

2008-07-26T14:50:00.001-07:00

The blonde wife of a former intelligence officer - known during Mr Mosley's privacy case against England's News of the World as Woman E - was paid by the newspaper to record spanking and bondage sessions he enjoyed with her and four other women.

But she failed to give evidence during the two-week hearing at the High Court because of her "emotional and mental state".

The woman emerged from hiding on Friday night to give a TV interview but refused to give her full name even though her face was shown.

Using the name "Michelle", she said she felt sympathy for Mr Mosley's wife of 48 years, Jean.

"I feel really sorry for her and her family - of what they have gone through, it must have been absolutely devastating," she said.

Michelle, who has posed for pictures as a dominatrix, said the Formula One boss had acted as an inmate in a German prison scenario where other women wore German uniforms, but she denied the News of the World's claim there were Nazi overtones.

"I know for a fact that it was spoken about that Max actually found it quite a turn-on to speak to them in German. He liked the German language," she said.

The mother of two said she'd been "stupid and naive" to set up Mr Mosley, 68.

On Friday, Mr Mosley - son of 1930s British fascist leader Oswald Mosley - was awarded $125,000 damages for invasion of privacy.

Legal experts said the 54-page ruling could have implications for press freedom and investigations into the rich and famous.

Three force Mass. girl to work as prostitute

2008-07-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

A Vineland man and two others face weapons and child endangerment charges after they allegedly held a teenage girl against her will, forcing her to work as a prostitute in Atlantic City, according to police.

Officers in Absecon recovered the juvenile, a Massachusetts girl, Tuesday night from a Super Lodge Motel, on White Horse Pike, following a call from the teenager's mother stating her daughter had been kidnapped and was being held at the roadside motel.

The girl told officers her captors used a stun gun to force her into prostitution, working in Atlantic City.

The group had reportedly been moving around, staying in various motels for at least a week prior.

According to police, the alleged captors arrived at the motel room shortly after officers arrived, and were arrested without incident.

Javon R. Gordon, 26, of Vineland, faces one charge of unlawful possession of a weapon, a stun gun, and were lodged in Atlantic County Jail on $1,000 bail.

Colleen M. Stapleton, 18, of Somers Point, is charged with promoting prostitution and endangering the welfare of a child. She sits inside Atlantic County Jail on $1,000.

Police arrested Marlando S. Forrester, 25, of Pompano Beach, Fla., as a fugitive out of his home state.

Ho Ihn Shin, 34, from Philadelphia, was arrested on outstanding traffic warrants, processed and released.

The girl was treated and released from an area hospital and is now home in Massachusetts, according to a statement issued by the Absecon Police Department.

Police said the investigation will continue.

Authorities would not give out the exact age of the victim, or when she was first allegedly detained, stating only that she is under the age of 18.

Prostitute had £14,000 on body

2008-07-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Malaysian national Nor Azmi Bin Mohammad, 31, is understood to have been charging clients 350 euros an hour for her services while working in NI.

A forfeiture order for the seized cash was granted because she did not have legal immigration status.

A PSNI lawyer for the PSNI said the money was "tainted with unlawfulness".

A defence barrister said Mohammad, who did not attend the hearing, was interviewed after being stopped at the airport on Wednesday and admitted being a transsexual prostitute.

"Whilst there's nothing illegal in that in itself, further inquiries actually indicated that Mohammad was an illegal entrant to the country," he said.

Man held at gunpoint by alleged prostitute

2008-07-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

A man who visited an alleged prostitute on his way to work Friday ended up being held at gunpoint by the woman after the two had a disagreement over payment, police said.

The man ran from the woman's apartment and called police after the woman's boyfriend grabbed the gun from her.

Liberty Henegan, 18, of Oakland, was later arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

The incident began at 5:30 a.m. at Hidden Creek apartments on Fig Tree Lane.

The man told officers he met Henegan on Craigslist.com and arranged to meet her at the complex in order to have sex for money, Detective Mike Estanol said.

"He was on his way to work (before the incident)," Estanol said. "They disagreed over the payment."

The woman took out a gun and held him in the apartment until 5:42 a.m., when another man, later identified as the Henegan's boyfriend, walked in and grabbed the gun from her.

No one was hurt during the altercation, Estanol said.

Officers evacuated several apartments as a precaution and then found the boyfriend and the gun hidden near a garbage bin. The boyfriend told officers that he and Henegan had a 3-year-old child who was still in the apartment.

Henegan was arrested and booked at County Jail. Her bail was set at $100,000. The child was taken by Child Protective Services.

Estanol said police will not pursue solicitation

N. Illinois professor took it all off for his career

2008-07-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

At 39, Craig Seymour has a resume most journalists would envy: a doctorate and stints as a music critic at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Buffalo News. But he has also worked one job even George Plimpton would shy away from: stripper in Washington, D.C., gay bars during the 1990s.

Seymour, who starts teaching journalism at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb this fall, has a new memoir, "All I Could Bare" (Atria, 243 pages, $23), about life in a G-string. We met up with him on a recent apartment-hunting trip to Chicago, where he discussed the connections between writing aspirations and onstage gyrations:

Q: How did you go from grad student to stripper?

A: It's complicated. One of the first gay bars I ever went to was a strip club, and it was great; I could express my desire for guys and not get my butt kicked. I ended up studying them as part of my graduate school experience [his doctorate is in American studies] at the University of Maryland—interviewing dancers and patrons—and I had a dancer tell me, "If you're so interested in this, why don't you strip?" So I decided to try it. I had never been interested in it before. But maybe I wanted to do it all along.

Q: When you first took your clothes off, what surprised you the most?

A: After the first few minutes, I wasn't scared. I was exhilarated. I was a graduate student, and until then my life was very safe. But I was becoming something new and exciting. It felt great.

Q: You say disrobing made your reporting career possible. How so?

A: It gave me the courage to take risks in other areas of my life—and one of those risks was to go into journalism. I came from a family that stressed making safe choices. Graduate school was a fallback plan, but that's not where my heart was. Stripping was like breaking out of a jail.

Q: How is the rush of stage like or unlike that of deadline?

A: They're different states. Stripping was a personal challenge: "How will I feel being naked in front of all those people?" My heart was racing; I was sweating. With celebrity interviews, it was about: "Can I establish a rapport? Will the person like me? Will the editors like the piece?" It was a much more mental experience, and there was the career goal too. With stripping, if I failed, I might've been embarrassed. But that was it; if it didn't work out, who would've known or cared?

Q: Teaching is like being onstage. Any parallels you see?

A: As a stripper, you are playing a fantasy role to get money out of customers. But when I teach, I'm much more myself and trying to help students live up to their potential. I don't feel like a performer. I like it to be a conversation among writers.

Q: Speaking of money, how much did you make stripping on a good night?

A: We got paid $40 or $50 for showing up. We'd work three or four hours, from 10 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m., and I'd walk out with $100. I was fine with that. We didn't really do lap dances where we'd make a whole ton of money.

Q: Was there something about stripping that you found ultimately thrilling?

A: I'm not a thrill seeker. I don't like roller coasters. I recently got mad at my mom when she made me go on a flume ride. When people ask me what's the message of the book, it's not to go out stripping. It's to find the courage to pursue your dreams: to see the crazy and great things that can happen when you try something you're scared to do in this life.

Q: What's the next big gamble?

A: It's moving to Chicago. I loved my last job [teaching at Dartmouth]; I loved where I was living. But at NIU, they're very interested in new ideas. Plus I've seen how taking risks can pay off in a big way. So I owe it to myself to take this risk and see what it might bring.

Man acquitted in 1986 stripper killings in second trial

2008-07-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

A man with a history of violent crime accused of killing two exotic dancers more than 20 years ago has been acquitted of their murders.

David Raymond Couture was convicted in 2003 of two counts of second-degree murder stemming from the slayings of his girlfriend Darlinda Ritchey, 27, and Karen Baker, 20. He was ordered to spend life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 16 years.

Couture, who has several previous assault convictions in Surrey, successfully appealed the conviction and won a new trial that began last month. During the second trial, court heard from a slew of witnesses, many of whom testified Couture told them he wanted to confess to a crime involving two ladies.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher ruled Wednesday that the statements provided by all witnesses had been "lacking in any detail."

"I am unable to say I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is responsible for the deaths of Darlinda Ritchey and Karen Baker," said Kelleher. "Mr. Couture must be and is therefore acquitted."

Mental evaluation ordered in prostitute slayings

2008-07-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

A man accused of killing two prostitutes within 30 minutes in downtown Ogden last week was ordered by a judge Monday to undergo a mental competency evaluation.

Jacob Daniel Ethridge is charged with two counts of first-degree felony murder, each punishable by up to life in prison.

Ethridge's own attorneys raised the competency issue during a Monday hearing before 2nd District Judge Roger Dutson.

A review is set for Sept. 8.

Killed in the early hours of July 13 by gunshots to the head were Rosaanna Marie Cruz, 25, and Teresa Rene Tingey, 42.

Zelley Johnson, a friend of Tingey's, told The Tribune that prior to the shootings he was walking home from a bar when Ethridge approached him and asked about finding a prostitute.

Police said Ethridge told them he was propositioned by woman who took him to a vacant third-floor apartment at 2579 Adams Ave., where he allegedly shot her. Tingey's body was found at that location.

Returning to Adams Avenue, Ethridge said, he was propositioned by another woman, who he killed after she took him behind 2461 Adams Ave., police said. Adams' body was found there.

Ethridge then drove to Roy, told his parents about the slayings and his father drove him to the Ogden police station, where he confessed, according to police.

Events began after Ethridge had an argument with his girlfriend, according to police, who said he told them he had been having homicidal thoughts for some time.

Man sentenced for helping mom use daughter as prostitute

2008-07-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

A man accused of helping a woman use her daughter as a prostitute was sentenced Monday, July 21, to one year in prison.

Under the sentence handed down by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge A.J. Wagner, Michael Melvin will also be on post-release control for five years after his year in prison is finished.

Melvin, 41, pleaded guilty to compelling prostitution of a minor on July 3. Wagner told him Monday that he will be labeled as a Tier 2 sex offender, meaning he will have to register with the sheriff's office every 180 days and not live near a school or day care center.

Melvin was charged along with Rachel White, also known as Rachel Lakes. She faces a felony count of compelling prostitution and a misdemeanor count of endangering children. Her trial had been scheduled for July 11, but will be rescheduled for a later date.

White, 39, had been charged with cocaine possession earlier this year, but was placed in treatment in lieu of conviction. Wagner recently revoked that probation and sentenced her to 12 months in prison.

According to the sheriff's office, vice officers working in Harrison Twp. got tips that a woman was using her minor daughter in prostitution at hotels. Undercover officers went to a hotel on North Dixie Drive at East Siebenthaler Avenue on April 21 and arrested Melvin and White.

White's daughter was placed in the custody of the Children Services Division of Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services.

Battle over stripper poles for aerobics class

2008-07-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

BARTLETT, TN -- The owner of a Tennessee aerobics studio is in a battle with the city over poles. It seems the city of Bartlett is not going along with plans for poles to be installed in the studio so the so-called stripper-robics can be taught.

The city's mayor says the poles turn the studio into an adult business. The owner says she runs a professional studio and no men or stripping will be involved.

Rachel Vint, the owner of the studio says, "It's just women coming in getting a good time, getting a workout losing weight and feeling good about themselves. It's something for the everyday woman. Everyone can do this I've lost 40 pounds doing this. That was before the poles that was just regular strip to fit dance class." She plans to hire a lawyer.

Stripper, 80, still taking her clothes off

2008-07-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Tempest Storm is fuming. Her fingers tremble with frustration. They are aged, knotted by arthritis and speckled with purple spots under paper skin.

But the manicure of orange polish is flawless and new, and matches her signature tousled mane.

She brushes orange curls out of her face as she explains how she's been slighted.

She is the headliner, you know. She is a star. She is classy.

"I don't just get up there and rip my clothes off," she says.

Indeed, the 80-year-old burlesque queen takes her clothes off very slowly.

More than 50 years ago she was dubbed the "Girl with the Fabulous Front" and told by famous men she had the "Best Two Props in Hollywood."

Since then, Storm saw the art that made her famous on the brink of extinction. Her contemporaries -- Blaze Starr, Bettie Page, Lili St. Cyr -- have died or hung up the pasties.

But not Storm. She kept performing. Las Vegas, Reno, Palm Springs, Miami, Carnegie Hall.

Her act is a time capsule. She knows nothing of poles. She would never put her derriere in some man's face. Her prop of choice is a boa, perhaps the occasional divan.

It takes four numbers, she says adamantly, four numbers to get it all off. To do it classy.

But the producers of tonight's show, just kids, they want her to go faster. She gets just seven minutes.

"I did seven minutes when I started," she says.

They gave her trouble last year, too. They even cut her music before she finished.

There may not be a next time for this show, she says. The threat lasts just minutes.

"No, no. I'm not ready to hang up my G-string, yet. I've got too many fans that would be disappointed."

Dated Elvis, other celebrities

Stardom and fandom feature prominently in Tempest Storm's life -- and in her neat, two-bedroom Las Vegas apartment.

Visitors are greeted by photos of a young Elvis, her favorite rock 'n' roller and, she says, a former lover.

He met her after her show in Las Vegas and fiddled with her skirt as he introduced himself. The relationship ended about a year later because Elvis' manager didn't approve of him dating a stripper, she says.

But she could not change who she was. Stripping already had made her famous.

It put her in the room with Hollywood's heavyweights. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Mickey Rooney, Nat King Cole.

She dated some, just danced for others. The evidence is framed and displayed on tables and the living room wall.

That's Storm and Vic Damone. Storm teaching Walter Cronkite to dance. Storm and her fourth and last husband, Herb Jefferies, a star of black cowboy films who swept her off her feet in 1957 when such unions were instant scandals. They divorced in 1970.

"When I look at this picture I say, 'What the hell happened between this gorgeous couple?"' she says.

The moment is brief.

Storm is rarely wistful. She has no doubt she still is what she once was. Although she performs just handful of times a year, she would do more, if asked. She chides those who think age takes a toll on sex appeal.

"Ridiculous," she says.

There are just as many recent photos in the room: Storm and her daughter, a nurse in Indiana. Storm and her fiance, who died a few years ago. Storm and a beaming older gentlemen, just a fan who approached her for a photograph.

In others, the petite beauty with the long lashes and glamorous hair is alone, out of focus, in full makeup and smiling wide. In one, she is perched on her living room couch in a red hat and low-cut black suit.

"I took that picture of myself," she says proudly. "I have a self-timer. I took these, too."

Sharecropper's daughter fled abuse

"That stage saved me," she says as she leaves a sound check hours before the night's performance.

She had been expecting a much smaller space and she is relieved. She's a "walker," she explains. She needs room to move.

It is a direct and once-racy style, the signature work of Lillian Hunt, the choreographer at the Follies Theater in Los Angeles where Storm became a star.

She was Annie Blanche Banks then. The 22-year-old sharecropper's daughter had fled sexual abuse, two loveless marriages and poverty in small-town Georgia, she says.

She was working as a cocktail waitress but wanted to be a showgirl. First, she needed her teeth fixed.

"Do you think my bust is too big for this business?" she asked Hunt at her audition.

Hunt put her in the chorus line, told her not to gain a pound and called a dentist.

In Storm's telling, she didn't stay long in the background. She got a new name. ("I really don't feel like a Sunny Day.") She took to the spotlight quickly. Then and now, she blossomed to the chorus of hoots and cheers.

The trick is having a warm presence, an inviting smile, she says.

When she takes the stage, she lets her mind float back to "Georgie." She imagines herself as a little girl, in her best dress, running down the road to meet her daddy coming home from work.

"I feel that I am that little girl dressed up out there. I got a picture in my whole mind of it. I can see that little girl," she says.

On stage, the image is frozen there.

But it's not the end of the story Storm tells. If she plays out the memory, the little girl is stopped in her tracks as an aunt blurts out a truth that pains her today.

"That's not your real father."

Doesn't smoke or drink, gets religion on TV

On Sundays, Storm tunes in to a televangelist who tells her anyone can overcome odds. It's the only religion she's ever taken to.

She believes this is the lesson of her life. Be a survivor. Never stop doing what you love, it makes you who you are.

"If you want to get old, you'll get old," she says.

There have been men who disappointed her, financial strain, brain surgery.

After it all, she sits on her couch and exercises in front of the television on a small stationary bike. She doesn't smoke or drink or eat much.

"I'm just blessed, I think. And I know when to push myself away from the table."

If some might see all this as chasing after lost youth, she says she cares little. Younger dancers tell her she is an inspiration to them, and she has no reason not to believe them.

"I feel good about myself. And I enjoy it," she says. "I have fun when I'm onstage, and the audience loves it. Nobody ever said it's time to give it up. Why stop?"

Cheers and whistles

Indeed, no one is dreaming of telling Tempest Storm to give up stripping when she slithers onto the casino nightclub stage for her seven minutes.

"Something in the way she moves ..." pipes through the speakers. Her live drummer, the Ringo Starr on loan from the Beatles tribute show on the Strip, picks up the beat.

The burlesque queen emerges stage right. A slinky purple gown hangs off her shoulders. A rhinestone necklace envelops her decolletage. The snakelike boa pours into her hands.

For a few seconds, her face flashes her nerves.

And then she hears the cheers.

When she performs, Storm smiles, leans back and walks on her heels, leading with her pelvis. Her hands float back and forth as if in water, until they fall below her hips and sweep up in tandem with a full frontal thrust.

More cheers. Whistles.

The boa disappears stage right.

The next number picks up the tempo, letting Storm cock a hip on the down beats. She loses the gloves and steps off stage to put on the negligee. It's gone almost as quickly as it came.

And with two flicks of her orange fingernails, the dress goes, too.

Two-finger whistle. Hollers. Applause.

Staring up at the 80-year-old woman in fishnets, a sheer rhinestone bra and a G-string, a young woman turns to a young man and declares:

"I want to look like that when I'm her age."

Stripper arrested for subway pole dances in Santiago

2008-07-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

SANTIAGO - A stripper who danced on the poles of Santiago subway trains to challenge the prudishness of Chilean society was arrested on Thursday during one of her lightning performances.

Monserrat Morilles, 26, surprised subway riders all week stripping to skimpy underwear, but she refused tips.

She said she was protesting a lack of tolerance in Chile, one of Latin America's most conservative societies.

"This is just a beginning. We are starting an idea here that will grow and be developed further," she said as police and subway guards surrounded her.

The professional pole dancer worked quickly all week to avoid arrest, getting on at one station, finding a subway car with no children on it and stripping in time to exit at the next station.

Chilean media dubbed her "La Diosa del Metro" or Subway Goddess. She called her performances "happy minutes."

"Chile is still a pretty timid country," said her manager Gustavo Pradenas. "People aren't very extroverted and we want to take aim at that and make Chile a happier country."

Boston stripper arrested on old warrant after claiming fling with A-Rod

2008-07-14T17:31:00.001-07:00

A former stripper who claims she had a two-night stand with Alex Rodriguez is learning the hard way that if you dish dirt you might get dirty.

Candice Houlihan has been arrested on an old warrant that had been dormant until she surfaced last week to blab about sleeping with the Yankee slugger.

"I think it's pretty much because I'm kind of out there right now," Houlihan of Reading, Mass., told the Boston Herald.

The exotic dancer-turned-hairdresser said State Police tracked her down Thursday night at her mother's house in Wakefield, Mass., and hauled her off in handcuffs
"in front of my 70-year-old aunt."

A Massachusetts State Police spokesman confirmed yesterday that Houlihan was arrested on a four-year-old warrant on charges she had an unregistered and uninsured car.

Houlihan, 32, blamed the charges on her cat-sitter, who took her car for a joyride when was on vacation.

She appeared in Lynn, Mass., District Court Friday and paid a $400 fine to clear up the matter. She had been stripped of her driving privileges because of the warrant.

"I'm glad that it's over with and now I can move on, and I can still drive," Houlihan said.

Houlihan made front-page headlines in New York and in Boston last week when she revealed she had sex with A-Rod in his Boston hotel room twice in 2004. Their last romp, she said, occurred during the Bombers' American League Championship Series against the Red Sox.

"I felt bad afterward," she said. "I'm not a bad person. I know how it feels to be cheated on, it sucks. But a couple of drinks later, I didn't notice all that much, to tell you the truth."

She cheered on Rodriguez's wife, Cynthia, for finally getting fed up with his cheating and filing for divorce.

The arrest is just the latest bad break for Houlihan since she went first went public with her dalliances with the Yankees' $275 million third-baseman.

She told her story to the Globe supermarket tabloid in June 2007.

The publicity caused her to lose her job at a hair salon and it brought back old memories of an infamous Boston murder she witnessed as a teenager.

Houlihan was a 19-year-old waitress at the 99 Restaurant & Pub in Boston, when three patrons she was serving opened fire killing four mobsters sitting in a nearby booth.

"It was terrifying," Houlihan recalled last week. "I waited on the gunmen. I witnessed these guys get murdered. I've had some weird days in my life, but that was definitely the weirdest."

Former stripper: Drugs, sex common in clubs

2007-11-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

A former stripper testified Monday she had seen freewheeling drug use and sexual activity when she performed at clubs in seven states.

Julie Shematz testified in support of a new state law that bans contact between exotic dancers and their customers. Her testimony came during the second day of a hearing in which Ohio's adult entertainment industry is asking a federal judge to block enforcement of the new law.

Shematz, 42, said she performed in 14 clubs over a seven-year period in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Carolina while financing her college education.

The dancers frequently used drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth and even a date-rape drug to "work up what we call 'the game' - get the game on," she said, referring to their performance.

She testified that sexual contact between dancers and between dancers and their customers was common, along with evidence of prostitution.

"Prostitution was normal," she said. "There wasn't a night that I worked that I wasn't propositioned."

Asked to elaborate, she responded, "It's an environment where you are sexually stimulating males."

Shematz said clubs have gotten tougher since she left the business in 2002. While the clubs where she worked had some rules, she testified, "It's no longer the art of physical entertainment. It's all contact."

When the attorney challenging the law said Shematz wasn't qualified from personal experience to comment on the prostitution issue, she responded, "That is personal knowledge" from her familiarity with clubs where she had performed more than 500 times.

Ohio's adult entertainment industry argues that there is no connection between strip clubs and any increase in crime.

U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. set aside two days for testimony on the challenge that claims the new law is vague and an unconstitutional violation of free speech and expression.

Next week the state will present its expert witnesses. The judge's ruling is expected after final written briefs are submitted.

Shematz, who now runs the Fort Myers, Fla.-based Beauty from Ashes nonprofit ministry that she founded to help women break away from the adult entertainment industry, said sexual contact in clubs was common, including licking and biting.

Shematz said she crossed the line to sexual contact with customers in her final year as a dancer.

"I was desperate," testified Shematz, who said she never intended to make a career of stripping.

Under questioning by the attorney for the adult entertainment industry, Shematz said her objections to nude dancing reflected her Christian faith.

J. Michael Murray, the attorney for the adult entertainment industry, questioned why it took Shematz seven years to complete the final three years of her college education after dropping out of Purdue University. She said she was busy taking courses, transferring credits and dancing.

Was she angry about the adult entertainment industry, asked Murray.

"Absolutely not," she responded.

Murray asked if she was determined to shut down the nude-dancing industry.

"No," she testified.

Pressed by Murray, Shematz said all the dancers she knew used illegal drugs. Fewer than half were involved in prostitution, she testified.

Cop pointed gun 'at my face': stripper

2007-11-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

A hulking Toronto cop in uniform terrified a tiny "burlesque performer" by pointing his gun at her after groping her breasts in a strip club, a court heard yesterday.

The married mother of three became emotional as she recalled Const. Joseph Green pointing his firearm at her on Oct. 8, 2004, inside the For Your Eyes Only strip club where she worked.

"I was looking down the barrel of a gun he was holding with both hands and pointing it at my face. He's so tall and he was only two or three feet away," said the woman, who cannot be identified.

"I was scared, really scared."

6-FOOT-9 VS 5-FOOT-2

Green, 35, who is 6-foot-9 and weighs over 300 pounds, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm.

The 5-foot-2-inch dancer testified that Green surprised her by asking if she had undergone breast enhancement after she had warmly greeted him with kisses on the cheek. She knew him from two earlier visits he made at the club, court heard.

"No, it's just the halter top," the petite 36-year-old recalled telling the traffic cop.

Green squeezed both her clothed breasts simultaneously for two seconds, she testified. She told the court she said, "No."

"I felt violated and disgusted. I was in shock," she told Justice John Hamilton in the judge-alone trial.

"I tried to slough it off and joke it off," said the woman. "And he was playing with his zipper and said, 'We can make it even'."

She said she walked past a fellow performer who witnessed the incident, when Green aimed his gun at her.

She testified that she quit the "burlesque performance" business, which paid $260 an hour for private dances, 20 days after the incident. She said club management offered to allow her to continue working if she didn't report the incident, but she chose to pursue the matter.

Wife made to work as prostitute

2007-11-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

A man has been accused of forcing his new Egyptian wife to work in a brothel so he could buy a flat, before sending her back home empty-handed.

When the man, FS, brought his bride to Sydney in July 2000 after an arranged marriage in Cairo, he told her she would help him pay back money for her visa, a jury has been told.

The woman, now 27, has told the District Court that soon after she arrived he took her to the Hideaway Brothel in Banksia.

"You're going to stay here and you're going to do whatever they ask you," he had told her.

She said she did not speak any English and did not understand what was happening. She objected but she said he told her he knew members of the Mafia, so she was frightened.

FS is charged with procuring his wife as a prostitute and keeping her in sexual servitude.

When she got pregnant, FS allegedly forced her to have an abortion, and she was told to go back to work at the brothel after a few weeks. She also told the court, through an interpreter, he had insulted and hit her on several occasions.

The woman told the court she worked at the brothel for nearly two years, making about $3000 a week, all of which she handed to her husband. She also said he kept her passport.

"He told me that we should have our own unit."

After about a year, FS, who earned less than $13 an hour, bought a unit in Lakemba with a $40,000 deposit, and paid off another $15,000 within a month, Crown prosecutor Brian Rowe said. There was also evidence that about $200,000 was transferred to FS's relatives in Egypt.

In mid-2002, the couple returned to Egypt. FS had allegedly told his wife to leave her clothes and jewellery at their Sydney home. She said he abandoned her in Cairo without luggage or money and later told her family that she stole from him.

She denied suggestions by FS's lawyer, James Fliece, that she had worked in the brothel on her own account and that the marriage was a sham. "Your religion and cultural background didn't require you to obey your husband if he asked you to work as a prostitute, correct?" he asked.

The woman replied: "Yes."

She denied knowing her visa was cancelled shortly before they returned to Egypt, after FS reported her to the Department of Immigration for working as a prostitute. She agreed a migration agent had told her she would be able to stay in Australia if she said she was the victim of domestic violence. The trial continues.

Chaplin Caught with Prostitute

2007-11-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

Chattanooga Police arrested 69-year old.. Frank Jump.. of Signal Moutain and charged him yesterday with patronizing prostitution on Watauga Street.

The chaplain says he's innocent....and wasn't planning on having sex with the prostitute.

Jump says he's an author of short stories and that he was doing research for a story he's writing about street people, including prostitutes.

Jump says he wanted quote, "firsthand experience for the story."

He says the undercover female cop never got in his car and that he never offered to pay her.

Jump says he doubts people will believe his story, but he says it's one he will tell to the judge when he goes to court.

His arrest, like most of the others today, took place within a mile and a half of a school.

That school being Clifton Hills Elementary.

Alicia Keys' mom aborts stripper name

2007-11-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

If it weren't for her mother, Alicia Keys might have a radically different image.

Keys, who has a new album titled As I Am, says that when she was trying to choose a professional name she went through a dictionary and stopped on the word "wild".

She tells Newsweek in the magazine's November 19 issue that she asked her mother how Alicia Wild sounded to her.

"She said 'It sounds like you're a stripper'," Keys said.

After that, she decided to use Keys.

"It's like the piano keys. And it can open so many doors," said the singer born Alicia Augello-Cook.

Mother sent stripper to school as treat

2007-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

A schoolboy had a 16th birthday to remember after a stripper ordered by his mother turned up at his drama class.

The boy's mother apparently booked a "gorilla" to mark her son's big day through an agency, but a stripper turned up instead.

The woman even asked her son's teacher at Nottingham's Arnold Hill School and Technology College to film the event so the family could see the boy's reaction.

The stripper, who arrived halfway through the lesson, first walked the unnamed boy around the class on all fours like a dog.

She then spanked him 16 times - once for each year - to the sound of Britney Spears, before stripping down to her bra and knickers.

It was only when she asked the schoolboy to rub cream on her that the shocked teacher called a halt to the show.

The boy's mother reportedly told the school the incident was the result of a booking error.

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council, the local eductation authority, said they were investigating how the incident happened.

She said that nobody had been suspended and the police were not involved.

The spokeswoman said: "We and the school are investigating into the situation."

One teenager, who witnessed the show, told the Daily Mail: "She (the stripper) asked the lad to stand up, which he did, and told him he had been a very naughty boy because he hadn't been doing his homework.

"Then she put on some Britney Spears music and got out a collar and lead from her bag and told him to put them on.

"No-one could believe it. Next she ordered him to get on all fours, led him around the classroom and hit him 16 times - once for each year - on the bottom with her whip.

"Then she took off some clothes until she was down to her bra and pants, pulled out some cream, put it on her buttocks and told him to rub it in.

"To be fair to the teacher, you could tell she was just stunned - and when the cream came out she told the stripper 'That's it. That's enough'."

The teenager said the boy the ran out of the classroom while the stripper calmly packed her bag and left.

A spokeswoman for the school said Nottinghamshire County Council was handling the incident.

APD Won't Release Video Of Officer Picking Up Prostitute

2007-11-06T13:21:00.001-08:00

The Austin Police Department announced Monday it will not be releasing dash-cam video of a veteran police detective picking up a prostitute.

The city said the attorney general ruled the video may not be made public, because the investigation is still open.

KXAN Austin News, however, obtained audio tapes of a conversation between 21-year veteran Detective Ralph Johnson and his supervisor.

Johnson was suspended for 25 days for violating a department policy that prohibits "associating with persons with bad reputations."

Just after midnight on March 2, Johnson was pulled over in his personal vehicle near the intersection of Alpine Road and Congress Avenue.

"He said, 'Ralph Johnson, did you know you just picked up a known prostitute?' I said ' No, you got to be kidding me!'" Johnson said in the recording.

Neither Johnson nor the prostitute was arrested.

On the streets, soliciting a prostitute is a crime punishable by up to six months in jail.

Flint man faces prison in exotic dancer's beating

2007-11-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

A 21-year-old Flint man faces prison time after pleading no contest to beating an exotic dancer in the head with a hammer.

Authorities say after smoking marijuana together on Oct. 22, 2006, Austin M. Schmidt told Abbie VanAmburg to close her eyes so he could give her a Sweetest Day gift. They say he then repeatedly struck the 23-year-old with both ends of a hammer.

The Flint Journal says VanAmburg sustained more than 30 blows, requiring 25 staples in her head and 50 stitches on her face and arm. She says it took about 30 stitches to reattach her left ear, which was nearly severed.

Schmidt made the plea Tuesday. He faces sentencing Dec. 4 in Genesee Circuit Court.

Man's sex tryst ends at precinct

2007-11-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

A 51-YEAR-old man's sexual agreement with an 18-year-old prostitute ended at the police precinct with his whole family in the know.

Edgar said the young woman left even before he can be satisfied. The young woman in turn claimed she stopped because Edgar got back the P450 he earlier gave her as "down payment."

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In turn, Edgar claimed he merely got back the money because the young woman refused to continue the sex act.

Edgar said he picked up the woman along Tionko Street, where several groups of prostituted women hang out. They first had dinner before checking into a lodging house where Edgar said he paid P300 for a room.

The agreed on price was P500 and the young woman demanded that Edgar pay up the P450 right away.

Edgar said in the middle of the sex act, the young woman got off and so he took back the money.

Now he's blaming the woman for the trouble he has found himself in. "Minsan lang ako maglipay-lipay nabulilyaso pa," Edgar said, admitting he is married with three children.

Former prostitute talks about what happened and what life is like now

2007-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

She was walking the streets selling her body and taking drugs for five years.

Now, she's clean and "it feels nice."

"Dee" took one puff of crack and "that was it."

That's not her real name. But Dee wants other women to avoid the mistakes she made. So she agreed to speak to the Tribune as long as her name wasn't used.
Once she became hooked and needed money to supply the habit, Dee did the only thing she knew to do - become a hooker.

But before she went to jail for six months, she lost everything, including her two children.

"I was scared out there," Dee said. "It was pretty awful. You'd just hop in a car with someone and never think that something bad could happen or they might hurt you. But those things do happen and it's scary."

Dee said not only could bad things happen from strange men, the girls themselves can do bad things to each other and the men they deal with.

"There are some out there who are just on the streets to rob people," Dee said. "They don't care. They just want the money."

Before becoming addicted to crack, Dee was a "functioning alcoholic."

"But I could deal with everyday things," Dee said. "I could deal with my kids and stuff. Then I got hooked on the crack and that was gone. That was that."

What changed Dee's life was getting help from sources outside her friends and those on the streets with her.

"The minute I got out of jail my boyfriend picked me up and took me away from all my other friends," Dee said. "I got into counseling at Muskingum Behavioral Health and started going to church. You can't stay around the same people or places. You'll get sucked right back in if you do."

Dee says Diane Hildebrand, one of the counselors at MBH, saved her life.

"She's my best friend," Dee said. "I tell her anything and everything. She tells me the truth about things. Help is out there if you want it. But, you have to want it and be willing to work for it."

The road to being clean is hell, but Dee said it's worth every minute in the end.

Now Dee gets to spend time with her family and new friends. She helps care for her father, who is ill, and said she's so happy and proud to be able to do that.

"He tells me he's proud of me and that really makes my day," Dee said, her voice faltering for the tears. "I'm just grateful my dad gets to see me clean."

And while she lost custody of her children, she says she is in touch with them and the oldest one tells her how proud she is of her.

"That's pretty special," Dee said.

While it is an everyday struggle to stay away from the drug, Dee said she knows that if she goes back, it could be the end.

"I think about crack everyday," Dee said. "But I stay away from the places I know I can get it at and the people who use it or could get me to use again. I've had to change my entire life and that's what needs to happen."

Dee said six months in jail was her wake-up call.

"That was enough for me to know that I didn't want to do that ever again," Dee said. "But, some people just don't learn. There are girls who the minute they get out of jail, turn around, get that crack and are back out on the streets. They just don't learn."

Scores stripper's two dogs snatched on upper East Side

2007-11-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

An upper East Side exotic dancer is cursing the cruel thief who stripped her of her two high-priced pooches in the latest of a spate of canine kidnappings plaguing city pet owners.

Daisy Rojas, 31, a stripper at Scores East, said her dogs, Charles and Darwin, were swiped Saturday night from outside a restaurant where she was eating.

"They're my life. They're everything to me. They're my children," Rojas said of her cuddly best friends, both white Malteses.

Rojas said the dogs were tied to scaffolding with their matching Louis Vuitton leashes outside the Sofrito restaurant on E.57th St. near First Ave.

The brown-eyed brunette said she was in the restaurant for no more than a half hour, but when she returned, the dogs were gone.

Investigators with the 17th Precinct were looking for a potential suspect, a man shown on a security camera playing with the dogs shortly before their disappearance, according to a source at the restaurant.

"We're definitely going to take care of it. We'll find those dogs," said the source. "We are very concerned for the dogs."

Rojas said she and her dogs are well-known in their upper East Side neighborhood and it never entered her mind they could be at risk so close to home.

Rojas showed the Daily News the many pictures of her dogs decorating her apartment, including a portrait painted of her posing with Charles and Darwin. She said she even had the dogs baptized and gave The News a peek of a tattoo she has of her dogs' names.

Rojas paid big bucks for the dogs - $3,500 for one and $4,000 for the other.

"They're the ones that when I'm down and I hold them, I have no worries," said Rojas, adding that her locker at Scores East is festooned with more photos of her pets.

Rojas spent yesterday posting flyers throughout her neighborhood, pleading with the dognappers to return them: "I just want to be positive that I'm going to find them."

Rojas is one of a string of New Yorkers who have recently had their dogs snatched.

Stacey Grant says her Boston terrier Molly vanished last month after she left her beloved animal outside a Brooklyn laundermat for 90 seconds.

Grant got Molly back after shelling out $2,500 to the men she suspected of stealing her.

Bronx nurse Susan Roberti's Yorkie, Mikey, went missing from her front yard last month, prompting her to offer a free trip to Disney World to the person who found the dog.

Mikey was found on Halloween by a construction worker who spotted the dog running up and down the street a few blocks from Roberti's home.

Judge criticized in prostitute rape case

2007-10-31T23:03:00.000-07:00

In a rare rebuke, a bar association has criticized a judge for refusing to uphold sexual assault charges against a man who allegedly let friends rape a prostitute he had hired. The judge said she considered the case "theft of services."

Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni heightened the furor when she defended her decision to a newspaper. "She consented and she didn't get paid," Deni told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I thought it was a robbery."

Dominique Gindraw was accused of ordering the accuser at gunpoint to have sex with three men. But Deni dismissed the rape and sexual assault charges on Oct. 4. She upheld conspiracy, robbery, false imprisonment and other charges against Gindraw.

The chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association issued a statement Tuesday that questioned Deni's understanding of state law.

"The victim has been brutalized twice in this case: first by the assailants, and now by the court," Chancellor Jane Leslie Dalton wrote. "We cannot imagine any circumstances more violent or coercive than being forced to have sex with four men at gunpoint."

The 20-year-old woman, a single mother, testified that she worked for an escort service that advertised through the Web site Craigslist.

She went to a North Philadelphia home on Sept. 20 to meet Gindraw, who had agreed to pay her $150 for sex. He then said a friend was coming with the money and that the friend would pay her another $100 to perform sex acts.

Instead, three other men arrived, and Gindraw pulled a gun and ordered the woman to have sex with all of them, she testified.

"He said that I'm going to do this for free, and I'm not going nowhere, and I better cooperate or he was going to kill me," she testified at a preliminary hearing.

Gindraw also took her cell phone and a purse containing pepper spray, she said.

The other men have not yet been identified or charged.

"Even though the woman is a prostitute, it doesn't mean she couldn't be a victim," Dalton said Wednesday. "Once she says 'No, it's not OK,' then to have sex with her is rape."

A bar association committee recently gave Deni high marks and recommended that voters support her in a Nov. 6 judicial retention election.

Deni, who makes $148,596 a year, did not immediately return a phone message left at her office Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio and Gindraw's public defender, Susan Lin, also did not return messages.

PC stripper helps spam to spread

2007-10-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

Spammers have created a Windows game which shows a woman in a state of undress when people correctly type in text shown in an accompanying image.

The scrambled text images come from sites which use them to stop computers automatically signing up for accounts that can be put to illegal use.

By getting people to type in the text the spammers can take over the accounts and use them to send junk mail.

Son Goes To A Strip Club With Dad's Credit Card, Ends Up With $53,000 Bill

2007-10-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Two months after a recent college graduate incurred $53,000 in charges at a gentleman’s club on Okaloosa Island, investigators are reviewing allegations of fraud and larceny.

Tommy Salter, 24, of Warner Robbins, Ga., was at Club 10 early Aug. 18, celebrating his graduation from Georgia Tech, according to his father and an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s report.

Salter told Club 10 employees he could only spend $600, according the report.

But his dad, 52-year-old Joe Salter of Mary Esther, was shocked by the $53,000 charge that ended up on a joint American Express credit card account he shares with his son.

“Their employees totally took advantage of my son,” Salter said Saturday. “It’s totally ludicrous.”

The club’s co-owner called it “a huge champagne night.”

“Oftentimes, men come in here and they spend a lot of money in an effort to show off in front of the entertainers,” said Tim Beal. “And then they get buyer’s remorse.”

Club 10 employs women who also perform private dances, but Okaloosa County law prohibits full nudity.

Beal said Salter bought at least 19 bottles of champagne in a champagne room. The bottles can range from $150 to $2,000. He also said Salter bought “Club Cash,” Monopoly-like money used to tip waitresses.

But Joe Salter said 24 of the 30 receipts he received from American Express were printed after 4 a.m. — when the club should have been asking patrons to leave.

He said his son was kept at Club 10 until 8 a.m., when employees drove him home.

The last charge came at 7:54 a.m., he said.

He said Tommy had been drinking heavily before arriving at Club 10 and could have been an easy target for manipulation.

Allegations on an Oct. 12 sheriff‘s report include larceny over $20,000 and credit card fraud. They represent charges that could be filed if the case is pursued in criminal court.

Otherwise, it may end up in civil court.

But Beal said he’d already been in contact with American Express after Salter filed a chargeback with the company, seeking to have part of the charge withdrawn. The company decided in Club 10’s favor.

“We rarely ever lose chargeback attempts,” Beal said.

Club 10 policy prohibits running tabs in the champagne room, Beal said. Patrons must instead sign a receipt for each champagne purchase they make on credit. Beal called it a “straight sale” policy.

He said the younger Salter signed each receipt, even scrawling his initials next to the itemized charges.

But Joe Salter says only the signature on the first receipt matches his son’s signature; the rest are signed with scribbles.

He also said Tommy came home with bruises on his neck. He believes they came from club employees yanking him awake throughout the expensive morning.

In a letter to American Express, Beal wrote that Joseph Salter told him, “This is not the first time my son has done something like this,” and “My son gets out of control when he drinks.”

Salter called those statements false and said past credit card statements would prove that his son had never “done something like this” before.

When asked if a manager or any other employee considered refusing to keep accepting payments from Salter that night, Beal said Salter appeared to know what he was doing.

“This fellow was lucid,” Beal said. “He was actually dancing with the manager, Chris, right before he left.

“He was in the best mood.”

Beal said there are “many occasions” when employees would cut off customers from buying more alcohol, but this wasn’t one of those cases.

It’s unclear if security camera footage captured any or all of the transactions.

Still, Beal said he was willing to listen to the Salters’ case in a private meeting.

He estimated he might reconsider about $15,000 of the total bill, although Salter said meetings scheduled with the club’s owners had repeatedly been postponed or ultimately canceled.

The case is still under investigation as deputies await Tommy Salter’s statement, Joe Salter said.

Emma Thompson's graphic prostitute role to highlight sex trafficking horrors

2007-10-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Oscar winner Emma Thompson will play the role of a prostitute in a shocking viral video on sex trafficking.

The actress portrays a prostitute who is trafficked into the country and forced to sleep with around 40 men per day, in a bid to underline the plight of thousands of women.

The video depicts the unfortunate fate of an estimated 4,000 women and girls trafficked into the UK each year and forced into prostitution.

The video is an honest endeavor to pressure the Government into approving the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in human beings, which would protect victims.

The campaign is being backed by the Body Shop in honour of Dame Anita Roddick, who died last month.

The shop is working with the Helen Bamber Foundation, an organization which looks after survivors of genocide, torture, trafficking and rape.

"The horror of human trafficking is a subject that my mother and I discussed often over recent years, as it was an area close to my mother's heart," The Sun quoted Roddick's daughter, Sam, as saying.

"There's nothing that makes me happier than to see The Body Shop taking on this campaign," she added.

The campaign will raise funds for the foundation by selling a set of six postcards of artworks illustrating the 'journey' of a trafficked woman.

Thompson and Sam Roddick are also expected to deliver a petition to the Government in November to take action against trafficking. (ANI)

Two more no-prostitute zones

2007-10-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a new ordinance, Pierce County can ban prostitutes and their customers from two problematic areas along the outskirts of Tacoma.

The measure allows law enforcement officers to arrest men and women whom judges have ordered to stay out of the areas, even if they are not soliciting new customers or looking for prostitutes.

“It makes our job easier and it makes it tougher for them to avoid us,” said Pierce County sheriff’s Lt. Larry Minturn, who supervises the department’s drug and vice unit.

With the new “Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution” ordinance – known as SOAP – the county joins Tacoma, Fife and Lakewood in defining geographic areas that prohibit prostitution-related activities.

“We need the same tools or else we end up being the dumping ground,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The County Council unanimously approved the ordinance in March. Boundaries of the new areas were approved recently.

The two areas cover a strip of Pacific Avenue from the Tacoma city limits to the Roy Y and a square pocket southeast of the city limits from McKinley Avenue to Waller Road, South 72nd to South 84th streets.

The order prohibits the person from being in the areas for any reason except between 9 a.m. and noon. A violation is considered a gross misdemeanor and punishable by up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Under the ordinance, District Court judges can impose the stay-out order at arraignment or at sentencing.

“We felt it was important to give the court authority to do it at that time,” said Craig Adams, the sheriff’s legal adviser.

Tacoma, Lakewood and Fife police officials say their SOAP ordinances have had an impact.

Lakewood has seen a 70 percent to 80 percent drop in prostitution-related arrests and complaints, Police Chief Larry Saunders said. Tacoma officers had 57 SOAP-related calls in 2006.

“We definitely need it,” Tacoma police officer Chris Travis said. “It helps us do our job. It helps us to be able to contact people.”

Fife police have caught a few repeat prostitutes in their SOAP areas but not a lot, Lt. Tony Budzius said.

“Those are far and few between,” he said. “Usually, they learn after the first or second time.”

The agencies usually need to conduct undercover operations to catch prostitutes and customers in the act.

Once those people have SOAP orders, patrol officers can arrest them for trying to conduct their business.

“You don’t have to do undercover operations anymore,” Saunders said. “SOAP takes a much stronger stance with a lower level of proof.”

The orders are just one tool to combat prostitution locally, officials said.

The other pieces include undercover sting operations, a day-long school for men caught soliciting a prostitute and the Promise program, which aims to get prostitutes off the streets and provide them with job training.

Despite the success of SOAP orders, Travis said, they don’t stop everyone because many of the women sell themselves for money to feed drug habits, something they can’t resist.

“There are people out there who aren’t going to be abide by it,” he said.

UM Law Prof Charged Soliciting Prostitute

2007-10-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

A University of Miami Law School professor who teaches criminal procedure and constitutional law had been charged with soliciting an undercover officer for sex, according to CBS4 news partners The Miami Herald.

D. Marvin Jones, 56, was arrested Aug. 22 in Miami's Little River neighborhood at the intersection of NW 79th Street and 1st Court.

According to a police report, he allegedly approached an officer who was posing as a prostitute and offered $20 for sex.

Jones, a published author who has taught at UM since 1988, has been on sabbatical since the beginning of the fall academic semester.

The school's dean, Dennis Lynch, told The Miami Hurricane student newspaper he was aware of the charge against Jones.

Jones pleaded not guilty to the solicitation charge last month and has requested a trial, court records show. If convicted of the second-degree misdemeanor, Jones would face up to 60 days in jail.

The newspaper reported attempts to reach him Thursday were unsuccessful.

Baton Rouge stripper convicted of murder

2007-10-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

A Baton Rouge stripper has been found guilty of fatally shooting her boyfriend, then dumping and burning his body.

A jury deliberated three hours yesterday before convicting 29-year-old Rachel Smith of second-degree murder in the slaying of Charles Jumonville III.

Prosecutors say Smith fired four bullets into the 29-year-old Jumonville on March 27, 2006, at her Baton Rouge apartment before loading his body into her car, taking it to an abandoned sawmill near Amite and burning it on top of a woodpile.

Authorities say Smith met Jumonville when she was dancing at an Ascension Parish club under the stage name "Sable" and where he was working as a disc jockey.

State District Judge Todd Hernandez scheduled sentencing for December 11.

Sister turned in accused killer

2007-10-23T14:47:00.001-07:00

Startling details about the case against accused prostitute killer Thomas Svekla emerged after a detailed RCMP affidavit was released yesterday.

Svekla's sister turned him in to police after realizing a hockey bag at her home that Svekla said contained "compost and worms" actually hid the wrapped body of slain prostitute Theresa Innes.

The same sister told police her "very nervous" "crying and distraught" brother told her he had "done something very, very bad" a week before the mutilated body ofRachel Quinney was found.

The affidavit reveals Quinney's body was found naked and both her breasts and genitalia had been removed.

The 188-page document also names and details other suspects of Project KARE, a task force investigating the killing and disappearance of Edmonton-area prostitutes.

As well, it discloses police used both undercover officers and confidential informants in the investigation of Svekla and recounts some of the alleged killer's statements.

Svekla, a 39-year-old mechanic, is charged with second-degree murder and interfering with a human body in the slayings of both Quinney, 19, and Innes, 36.

Quinney's body was found in a patch of trees near Sherwood Park on June 11, 2004. Police allege Svekla killed her earlier and mutilated her body.

The body of Innes was found nearly two years later, on May 8, 2006. She had been stuffed in a hockey bag at a Fort Saskatchewan home.

Police allege Innes was slain earlier in High Level and her body transported the 700 km to Fort Saskatchewan inside the hockey bag.

According to the affidavit, Svekla's sister, Donna Parkinson, looked into the hockey bag her brother left at her Fort Saskatchewan home because she was suspicious.

"Parkinson said she recalled starting to hyperventilate when she felt the package was hard."

An autopsy revealed the body had been wrapped in garbage bags, a shower curtain and an air mattress and about 50 small gauge wires had been used in the wrapping. No cause of death was determined.

Parkinson told police that when Svekla told her he had "done something very, very bad," he looked unusually clean and was covered in scratches.

Prostitute jailed after stabbing

2007-10-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

A prostitute who stabbed another working girl in the chest has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Nadine Symonds, 25, pulled out a knife and shouted "I am going to kill you" to Kelly Bramwell, Luton Crown Court heard.

The victim suffered a punctured lung and had to have her chest drained. She spent a week in hospital, said Natalie Carter prosecuting.

Symonds, a mother-of-two, from Bingen Road, Hitchin, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent on September 27 last year.

Mrs Carter said both women worked as prostitutes in Luton and had known each other for about four years.

In the early hours of the morning the victim was at a friend's house when Symonds was let in. She confronted Miss Bramwell telling her to leave and produced the knife.

When Miss Bramwell got to a nearby road junction she was aware that Symonds was running towards her. She dropped the bag she was carrying and realised she had been stabbed to the right side.

An ambulance was called and she was taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital where she was found to have a 4cm stab wound.

Symonds was arrested and gave no comment interviews.

Defence barrister Stephen Akinsanya said last Thursday that Symonds showed "genuine and obvious remorse".

He said he hoped that she could remain drug and alcohol free, having made progress in jail since being remanded in custody. Art work carried out by Symonds while inside had been commissioned for display, he said.

Judge Richard Foster told Symonds she had launched "a life threatening attack. This could have been a murder case. It is tragic for everyone concerned."

He told her that the 71 days she had already spent in custody would count towards her sentence and that she can expect to be released half way through the three-and-a-half year sentence.

The judge said: "On your release do not relapse into drug or substance misuse.

Tuberculosis outbreak blamed on stripper

2007-10-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Dozens of people in St. Maarten are being treated for latent tuberculosis after health officials warned that they may have been exposed to the illness by a stripper infected with an active form of the disease.

At least 40 people tested positive after the health department treated an exotic dancer from the Dominican Republic several months ago and sent her home, according to a government news release issued Friday.

Health officials struggled to identify those exposed, launching a public campaign to urge anyone who had contact with the woman to seek treatment. They now believe they have identified everyone infected.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that attack the lungs and can be fatal. People with latent tuberculosis do not feel sick and present no symptoms, but are at risk of contracting the full disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stripper's visit turns into robbery

2007-10-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

FORT MYERS: A man's early-morning visit from a stripper turned into a robbery Friday.

Deputies say Brandon Hutchinson met a woman. Later identified as Angela Vanreyendam, as the Escapades nightclub Wednesday night.

The man exchanged phone numbers with Vanreyendam, 22, and left the club.

They agreed to meet at Hutchinson's house on Hartland Street in Fort Myers Thursday night, but after the woman didn't show, he went to bed.

Around 5:30 a.m. Friday, he heard a knock at the door. Vanreyendam was there, along with a man she identified as her cousin, Rodney Vanreyendam, 41.

Investigators say the three went into the home, where Angela Vanreyendam asked to use the bathroom.

Hutchinson told deputies he led her there, then turned around to Rodney Vanreyendam pointing a shotgun at him.

Deputies say Angela Vanreyendam came back with a handgun and demanded all the jewelry and money in the home.

The duo allegedly bound Hutchinson and taped his mouth while they ransacked the home.

They ordered Hutchinson into the bathroom and told him to wait for five minutes before coming out or he'd be shot.

He waited, then woke his roommate up and called deputies.

Investigators first went to the club. They learned Angela Vanreyendam had called just before their arrival asking the owners to shred all information about her and not give out any personal information to anyone who might ask for it.

Detectives tracked Rodney Vanreyendam to a home on SW 8th Court in Cape Coral.

They talked to a man living at the home, who said only his girlfriend was inside. But another deputy watching the home could see two women in a bathroom - one he identified as Angela Vanreyendam.

Rodney Vanreyendam was also found hiding in the home.

Deputies searched the home and found a gun, passport, wallet, keys and paperwork stolen from Hutchinson.

Both Vanreyendams are charged with home invasion robbery.

Officer tied to prostitute has license pulled

2007-10-18T16:58:00.002-07:00

A former Mesa police officer who provided his co-workers with false information about the identity of his girlfriend, a known prostitute, during an investigation last year can no longer serve as a law enforcement officer in Arizona.

Steve Roman resigned last year from the Mesa Police Department after questions were raised over whether he was untruthful to officers during a police investigation about his girlfriend, Kimberly Ann Morgan. He provided a wrong last name and birthdate for Morgan. At the time, Roman was dating and living with Morgan.

On Wednesday, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board accepted a consent agreement with Roman where he voluntarily relinquished his state certification. AZPOST offered the agreement with Roman because he is not medically able to attend hearings or serve as an officer, records show. The agreement does not make any finding of misconduct, records show.

Roman, who now lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., has suffered for 15 years from a brain tumor. As a result, Roman has severe memory problems, is disabled and cannot work, according to Dr. Enrique Lizardi and AZPOST records.

Roman's career as an officer began to unravel June 14, 2006, when Mesa police were called to investigate an incident at Golfland SunSplash water park in west Mesa.

A woman told police that Roman, who was off duty, and two females with him were standing in a parking space to save it. When the woman objected, Roman called her a profane name and reached into her car and grabbed the gearshift, according to a police report.

Roman told police he feared for his and the group's safety when the woman began driving toward them.

One of the women with Roman, Morgan, told the woman, "My boyfriend is a cop. He'll take care of this," according to the report.

According to a Mesa police internal affairs probe, Roman showed his badge at the scene. Roman then provided untruthful information about Morgan to the investigating officers, AZPOST records show.

Roman said his girlfriend's last name was Johnson but recanted. He also provided an incorrect birth date for her. Morgan gave the identical incorrect date. Roman also told police that Morgan didn't have a driver's license because she was from New York and probably used the public transit system. He told the officer that he is from New York and didn't get a driver's license until he joined the military. Mesa police investigators later learned that Morgan had a valid Tennessee driver's license.

Morgan, who sports a dollar sign and "Pretty Risky's No. 1 Leading Lady" tattoos on her thigh, had two prostitution convictions in Mesa. At the time of the incident, she had four outstanding Mesa city court warrants mostly involving prostitution, records show.

The internal affairs investigation revealed that Roman has ran criminal background checks on Morgan using her correct birthday four times since November 2005 while on duty.

The officer determined no crime had occurred at SunSplash and closed the case. But a sergeant at the scene recognized Morgan. The sergeant felt Roman was misleading police, which sparked an internal affairs investigation. He resigned before being interviewed for the internal affairs probe. The probe found Roman did violate department policy by failing to report accurately, records show.

Mesa police reported to AZPOST a possible violation of its rules last year and an investigation was started.

A Stripper Scandal Avoided

2007-10-18T16:58:00.001-07:00

Let's start with the scene: an upstairs party room Tuesday night at Sonoma, one of Capitol Hill's hippest restaurants, where friends gathered to celebrate the publication of local writer Kelly DiNardo's new book about legendary striptease artist Lili St. Cyr.

And along with the shrimp, open bar, and charcuterie, DiNardo also arranged for a performance by a local burlesque queen who goes by the provocative name of Kitty Victorian. And here's where the potential comes in: In an adjacent party room, Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democrat from outside Pittsburgh, was hosting his own gathering--sans strippers. So when Ms. Victorian began with the black fans, rhinestones, and loads of exposed flesh, the photographers were keeping their fingers crossed that Doyle might wander through and tabloid news might occur.

Alas, Doyle kept to his room until long after Kitty's fans were packed away. Our Liz Halloran asked Kitty whether she'd had any luck breaking into the political fundraising circuit. "Not yet," she said. "But I'm trying. I'm trying."

Police: Stripper-Involved Death Was Self-Defense

2007-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

Authorities are investigating a twist in the shooting on Tuesday night involving a stripper.

Orange County investigators said the stripper was part of a setup to rob the people who hired her.

One of the intended victims shot and killed a man who detectives now say was there to rob him, and had a gun of his own.

The exotic dancer was invited to a private home, but it seems she was part of a larger, Internet-based scheme to rob the two men who invited her, investigators believe.

"It's very weird," neighbor Maria Fernandez said.

Area residents first became concerned after they heard the shooting was the result of an argument over an exotic dancer.

"People have parties, and they have these strippers come to the house in your own neighborhood. You know, i'ts like, unbelievable," Fernandez said.

Then authorities discovered a new twist in the case on Wednesday afternoon.

"You have two individuals that were just looking for a night of entertainment, unfortunately, they called in the wrong act," Sgt. Alan Lee of the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.

Homicide detectives said the two men had responded to an ad for an exotic dancer on Craigslist.

"A lot of times there is inherent risk with that. A lot of times these ads, it's a setup for you to be robbed," Lee said.

Detectives said the woman went to the house first to scope it out in order to determine for her accomplice if it was worth robbing.

The dancer's accomplice showed up with a gun and the homeowner returned fire with his own weapon and killed the man.

Authorities said neither of the two residents of the home will be charged.

"They were acting in self-defense," Lee said.

Detectives have been working to try to figure out the identity of the man who was shot to death. They strongly suspect the man has a criminal record.

The police are encouraging victims of similar crimes to contact them directly.

Stripper's Manager Shot, Killed After Customers Complain

2007-10-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Crime scene technicians were at an east Orange County home Wednesday morning where a stripper's manager was shot and killed. The incident happened in the Harbor East subdivision.

Early Wednesday morning, Orange County sheriff's investigators were hammering and chiseling away inside the crime scene at the Orange County home after a party didn't end the way it was supposed to. Deputies were questioning people at the party to find out exactly what happened.

Investigators said the three people inside the house, two men and a woman, hired an exotic dancer. They weren't happy with her and, when they realized she wasn't the one they hired, they called her manager to complain.

The 25-year-old dancer returned to the house and got into a fight, but the fight got out of control. Several shots were fired and the stripper's boss was hit multiple times. He later died at a Winter Park hospital.

"There's still somewhat of an unusual case and there's still much to be learned about what happened inside," said Jim Solomons of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators were trying to figure out if the shooting was a case of self-defense. The State Attorney's Office could file charges Wednesday afternoon.

Ex-Prostitute Shares Story of Hope

2007-10-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

A former Valley prostitute shared her story of hitting rock-bottom and rebounding to recovery in observance of October as "Prostitution Awareness Month."
``I would do just about anything for just about any price," said Jeanne Allen, sho spent five long years on the streets, hooked on crack and heroin. She said that chapter in her life was lonely and dark.

``Get in and out of cars with men I didn't know, never knowing if I would come out alive," she said. ``It's a very scary lifestyle."

Out of a car, straight to a dopehouse, then right back out again, Allen said it was a vicious cycle of destruction.

``I've had guns held to my head, I've been raped by a couple of men at a time. I've been beaten down. I had one instance where the guy pushed me out of the car after he was done and came back to beat me up some more. And you know what I did? I got up, walked to the nearest corner, got in the next car and did it again."

Allen said there really wasn't anything she wouldn't do, and her self worth was destroyed.

``My amounts started out high in the beginning, but as I got more into the drugs, the dates got cheaper and I lowered myself to levels I never thought I would."

Allen was busted at least eight times for prostitution and other crimes. Her last arrest was in June 2005.

Phoenix has some of the toughest prostitution laws in the country, but the city also offers diversion programs for women like Allen.

Now, she shares a message of hope.

``Truly, my destination today is to help another come out of what I was through," she said. ``That's why it's important to me to tell my story. As painful as it is at times, there's still some good that comes out of it today, and that really brings a lot of joy to my heart."

Brad Pitt used to strip in college

2007-10-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Brad Pitt used to be a stripper.

The Hollywood heartthrob - who now has four children with partner Angelina Jolie - was part of raunchy group the Dancing Bares during his time at the University of Missouri.

Thomas Whelihan, one of Brad's Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, said, "When a girl from one of our sister sororities turned 21, the Bares - there were seven of them - would put her in a chair and come out butt-naked with pillowcases on their heads and do a choreographed dance for her. The girls would be laughing so hard. It was great!"

Brad - who regularly plays pranks on his good pal George Clooney - was also famed for the practical jokes he used to play.

Another fraternity brother, Harry Lunt, recalled to In Touch Weekly magazine, "Once, during Spring Fling, Brad tanned the letters of the sorority house we were grouped with on his butt. He mooned the whole crowd. Everyone thought it was hysterical."

Angela Wells Wood, who dated the 'Fight Club' star during his senior year, says Brad was loved by everybody because of his fun personality.

She said, "He was really outgoing and popular, a really fun-loving person."

Voters won't see stripper law

2007-10-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

A petition effort to ask voters to overturn new regulations involving sexually-oriented businesses like strip clubs has fallen short of requirements needed to put it on the November ballot, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has announced.

Petition circulators needed valid signatures from at least three percent of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election in 44 Ohio counties. At most, the Vote No on Issue 1 campaign, formerly known as Citizens for Community Standards, may have met the requirement in 31 counties.

Absent court intervention, Mrs. Brunner announced, the law will go into effect once the results are certified and the question will not appear on the November ballot.

Boulder School Counselor Admits Soliciting Prostitute

2007-10-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

BOULDER, Colo. -- School district officials planned to meet this week to discuss the future of a counselor who pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute.

Casey Middle School counselor Dr. Michael Todd Barta, 46, pleaded guilty Friday to the misdemeanor charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11.

Barta has been on paid leave since his arrest in June.

Police were tipped off by a woman -- who said she was a "professional escort" -- that a man paying her for sex told her that his "deepest, darkest secret would be to have sex with a 12-year-old girl," according to an arrest report. She said she recognized him as a counselor at her child's school.

Barta was arrested after an undercover police officer who answered his ad on Craig's List met him at the 29th Street Mall.

Police said the posting read, "Handsome, professional seeking stress-reliever for $$."

Barta has been a counselor at Casey since 2000.

Boulder Valley School District officials will decide what's next for Barta after reviewing his court record this week, spokesman Briggs Gamblin said.

Former Duke lacrosse coach sues school

2007-10-15T10:28:00.001-07:00

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The former Duke University men's lacrosse coach who resigned last year amid allegations that three of his players raped a stripper has sued the university.

Mike Pressler's lawsuit apparently stems from a financial settlement the school reached earlier this year with him, although school officials did not give details Friday. The players were later cleared of the charges.

The Herald-Sun of Durham reported Friday on its Web site that his lawsuit alleges the university broke the terms of the confidential settlement when university senior vice president John Burness made disparaging comments about him.

The newspaper reported that the lawsuit asks the state court to void the settlement and hold a trial on Pressler's claim of wrongful termination.

Duke's vice president and general counsel, Pamela Bernard, said the university was "disappointed that he is now trying to undo that agreement with an unfounded claim against Duke.

"We will address the matter through the legal process and insist on honoring our existing agreement."

Pressler did not return a call seeking comment Friday night, and his agent declined to comment.

Lacrosse players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were indicted last year on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense, after a stripper told police she was raped at a March 2006 party thrown by the team.

The players were later cleared by state prosecutors, who concluded no crime occurred and found the trio to be the innocent victims of former Durham County prosecutor Mike Nifong.

Nifong was disbarred for his actions in the case. He resigned from office and spent a night in jail after a judge held him criminal contempt of court for his conduct during the case. Pressler now coaches at Division II Bryant in Rhode Island.

In June, the three players reached an undisclosed financial settlement with Duke. Last week, they filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Nifong, the city of Durham and the police detectives who handled the case, among others.

Teenager Will Be Tried as Adult in Prostitute's Rape, Murder and Disfigurement

2007-10-13T10:18:00.001-07:00

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) - A 16-year-old boy will be tried as an adult in the rape, murder and disfigurement of a prostitute who was killed in February.

Adrian Eleazar Ramirez faces six counts of murder, including two capital murder counts, and a sexual assault charge in the death of 21-year-old Maria Benita Zuniga.

The county sheriff says multiple murder counts are related to each of the violent actions authorities believe contributed to Zuniga's death.

Investigators believe Ramirez was infatuated with Zuniga and became enraged after seeing her out with other men. She was robbed, raped and choked, and her face was disfigured by a sharp object.

The name of Ramirez's attorney could not immediately be determined. During his court appearance today, Ramirez seemed confused by the multiple murder counts.

Ramirez was in the Hidalgo County Jail tonight on a $350,000 bond.

Prostitute Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

2007-10-13T10:17:00.001-07:00

A prostitute who was found guilty in the slaying of a client was sentenced Thursday night to 12 years in prison.

Meredith Maze, who was on trial on a charge of murder but was found guilty on a lesser charge of manslaughter, admitted to shooting Yazdanpahah Sagvand, 50, in April 2005, saying it was self-defense.

According to trial testimony, the defendant and the victim argued over sex and drugs.

Maze will have to serve at least six years of her sentence before she's eligible for parole.

Stripper's injury compensation upheld

2007-10-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- An Indiana appellate court says a stripper injured while pole-dancing was entitled to a previous workers compensation award.

The state Court of Appeals found that the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board had been correct when it awarded Angela Hobson $10,400 for a 2001 injury she suffered while twirling on a pole at Indianapolis' Shangri-La West, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette said Wednesday.

Hobson had filed a workers' compensation claim in 2003 after discovering she had a herniated disc in her cervical spine from her stripping performance.

The strip club, which did not have workers' compensation insurance when the injury occurred, had appealed the Compensation Board's ruling in an attempt to avoid the compensation award.

The newspaper said not only did the strip club lose its appeal, but the state court tack on 5 percent under a mandatory state law regarding such appeals.

Volunteer coach convicted in overdose of teen stripper

2007-10-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

MELVINDALE -- A volunteer high school coach convicted today of providing a fatal overdose to a teenage stripper could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A Wayne County jury found Deleon Alexander II, 28, of Lincoln Park guilty of delivery of a controlled substance causing the death of 17-year-old Stephanie Brown and delivery of a controlled substance.

Alexander supplied Brown, a student at Wyandotte High School, with cocaine and Ecstasy on March 16 at the Moonlight Motel in Melvindale. Shortly after she collapsed and died.

"We are grateful for the verdict because it's unbelievable what happened," said Melvindale Police Chief Rick Cadez. "What the parents of this girl suffered through can never be repaired."

Alexander is the first person tried and convicted of delivering a controlled substance causing death since the law was enacted last year.

"I hope this sends a loud and clear message that these are serious criminal consequences when you supply dangerous drugs and contribute to an overdose death," said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Alexander will be sentenced on Oct. 25 by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Ulysses Boykin.

Police: Woman in hooker scam called victims 'losers'

2007-10-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

A woman charged with luring sex-seeking men into her apartment and then robbing them, called her victims "losers" who "deserve to have their money taken," police said.

Judiann Madera, 34, of North Andover, told police she went to the public library and posted an advertisement on the Web site craigslist.com offering sex for money.

She said she didn't have sex with anybody; rather, she and her boyfriend robbed the men when they showed up at her apartment, according to a report written by Officer Jay Staude.

Madera confessed to police during a recorded interview that she and her boyfriend, whom police also arrested, came up with the idea after watching a news report "about craigslist and prostitution," Staude wrote in his report.

"We came up with this idea where we would do the same thing, but rather than go through with the physical act or sexual act, that we would just take the money," Madera told Staude and Inspector Eugene Salois, according to a summary of the confession.

"We just figured they're ... losers anyway ... they deserve to have their money taken, because, not that they deserve it, I know that it's wrong, but if you're stupid enough to pay somebody, then you're stupid enough to get your money taken," police quoted her as saying.

Madera was in Lawrence District Court Tuesday facing charges of sexual conduct for a fee, deriving support from prostitution, attempting to commit a crime (unarmed robbery) and conspiracy. Police arrested her after an undercover operation last Monday.

J.J. Huggins writes for The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass.

Stripper accused of borrowing movie plot

2007-10-10T14:19:00.001-07:00

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - In the 1994 movie "The Last Seduction," a femme fatale coaxes her lover into killing her husband for money. Prosecutors say a beautiful stripper obsessed with the film followed the script to its murderous end.

Mechele Linehan, 34, is on trial on charges she masterminded the decade-old slaying of her fiance in hopes of collecting $1 million in insurance.

Life and art were so similar, prosecutors say, that they even sought, unsuccessfully, to have the movie shown to the jury.

It's a case of sex, greed and manipulation that has transfixed the Pacific Northwest, from Alaska to Washington state, where Linehan had made a new life for herself as a college graduate, doctor's wife and suburban soccer mom before cold-case investigators came calling.

Linehan — then known as Mechele Hughes — was one of the top girls at a strip club called the Great Alaska Bush Co. in 1996. A former co-worker said she was so sexy, she didn't have to dance to earn big tips; men would pay just to talk to her.

Prosecutors say that is where the blonde borrowed the plot of "The Last Seduction" and had her fiance, 36-year-old fisherman Kent Leppink, killed.

"If it was not for Mechele Linehan, Kent Leppink would be alive today because she set the stage and at least wrote the ending," prosecutor Pat Gullufsen told the jury in his opening statement. "All she needed was someone to do the dirty work ... someone to pull the trigger."

That person, the prosecutor said, was John Carlin III, another fiance of Linehan's. Carlin was convicted in April of murdering Leppink.

Leppink's body was found by utility workers on the ground near a lonely trail in Hope, more than an hour's drive from Anchorage. He had been shot three times with a .44 Magnum. Prosecutors say Linehan and Carlin had lured him to the desolate mining community by fabricating a series of e-mails that Leppink found, saying Linehan was holed up in a cabin. The cabin didn't exist.

According to prosecutors, Linehan wanted the proceeds from Leppink's life insurance policy. But what she didn't know was that Leppink suspected evil afoot and changed the beneficiary to his parents days before he was murdered.

And in yet another film-noir twist, he sent a letter to his parents to be opened if something "fishy" happened to him. "Since you're reading this, you assume that I'm dead," he wrote, and then named Linehan, Carlin and another man who hoped to marry Linehan as possible suspects.

"Make sure she is prosecuted," he wrote.

Still, prosecutors did not have the evidence to make an arrest at the time. Linehan left stripping, and over the next decade she married a doctor, graduated from Saint Martin's University with a degree in psychology, had a daughter, and worked for a time as an administrative assistant at the Washington State Executive Ethics Board, which guards against ethical misconduct by state employees. She was living in Olympia, Wash., when she was arrested.

The Alaska State Troopers cold-case unit caught a break in 2005 when they interviewed Carlin's son, who was underage in 1996 and wasn't allowed by his father to be interviewed. As an adult, he gave investigators enough damning testimony to bring charges against his father and Linehan last year.

He told them that he saw his father using bleach to wash out a handgun in a bathroom sink and that Linehan watched.

At the trial, which is likely to end next week, Linehan's blond hair is now glossy black, offset by porcelain skin and striking blue eyes. She has complained to photographers that her smiles look like smirks in their pictures.

"The Last Seduction" is a modern-day film noir in which a ruthless beauty — played by the sultry, raven-haired actress Linda Fiorentino — uses her sexual wiles to manipulate others.

A former stripper, Lora Aspiotis, testified that she watched the movie with Linehan and that Linehan admired the tough-talking Fiorentino character.

"She told me that the character was her heroine and that she wanted to be just like her," Aspiotis said.

("Isn't it unbelievable? I'm a little shaken up by it," Fiorentino recently told the New York Post.)

Gullufsen, the prosecutor, said: "The seed is planted. There is someone she admires, wants to be like and the wheels start turning; she can apply that plan to her circumstances."

In the movie, the femme fatale gets away with murder, while her boyfriend gets convicted. Gullufsen said Linehan tried to write the same ending for herself, and he asked that the jury be allowed to watch the movie.

But Judge Philip Volland said he didn't see enough similarities between the movie and the real-life murder, noting, for example, that there was no evidence that Linehan had sex with Leppink. The judge also said the movie could be too disturbing to the jurors.

Linehan's lawyers maintain Carlin acted alone. They say he killed Leppink because he believed Leppink was stalking Linehan and because he was depressed that she loved a third man.

But another tawdry motive in the sensational trial also has been suggested: One defense attorney said the evidence will show that Leppink was bisexual or homosexual and had made advances toward Carlin's 16-year-old son.

Pole dancing classes for seven-year-olds creates fury Down Under

2007-10-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Melbourne, Oct 8 (ANI): Family groups in Australia have expressed disgust over pole-dancing classes started for kids as young as seven.

The classes in Sydney impart pole-dancing classes as strengthening and flexibility workouts for teens and pre-teens.

Critics have slammed the move and called them as "sexualising young children" and risking exploitation by paedophiles.

The Australian Family Association criticised the classes, stating that they are inapt.

"There are plenty of exercise tools out there. Why choose a pole, the classic phallic symbol of the pornographic world," spokeswoman Angela Conway said.

"By putting children in a pole dancing exercise class you're teaching children a sexual body language that they don't know the meaning of but adults do," she said.

Kids who have started taking up classes have defended the dance form, calling it an exercise.

"It's really fun and you get to learn a lot of different moves. People think it's pole dancing but it's not. It's great exercise," News.com.au quoted 11-year-old Angela, Perry as saying

The girl's mum Julie said that pole dancing is being used as healthy exercise.

"It's not slutty or anything. I've seen pole dancing on TV and they don't do anything like that here. It's building up her strength after she got ill and it doesn't put too much pressure on her muscles. She's much stronger, healthier and more confident," she added.

Australian Federation of Parents and Citizens' Association head Sharryn Brownlee said that parents have to be careful about what they are making their kids do since the dance form has a bad reputation.

"Normally the P and C supports any sort of fitness regimen to help kids get healthy but with the reputation of this industry, parents need to be very careful," she said. (ANI)

from: in.news.yahoo.com

Prostituted by Her Father From Ages 5 to 16, Crystal Is Now off the Streets

2007-10-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Most of the 14 young people currently living and attending school at Children of the Night, a nonprofit that helps child prostitutes get off the streets, were initially abused by their parents or caregivers.

Crystal, a 17-year-old from Phoenix, told ABCNEWS.com that she had been sold for sex by her parents from the age of 5.

"I still remember the first time," she said. "I was 5 years old and my dad told me to wait in a special little room. I waited and this guy came. My dad told me to 'do to him what you do to me' and told the trick I was a virgin. I still dream about it all the time."

By the time Crystal was 9, her father would not allow her to attend school and prostituted her to men "almost every day."

She said, "He would beat me, tell me, 'you better go ho,'" slang for working the streets.

She said her father demanded she earn $700 a week, charging $80 for intercourse, $40 to 60 for oral sex and $120 for anal sex.

When Crystal was 10, her mother, a prostitute, died of AIDS and Crystal ran away from home. She was routinely picked up by the police and Child Protective Services who would return her to her father.

In and out of shelters and juvenile detention centers and working the streets for other pimps, Crystal epitomizes the plight of many child prostitutes.

"I'd try to get myself arrested just to get off the streets. … I kept hearing people say if you need help, tell somebody. But when I talked, my parole officer would tell me not to because the cops would use the information in court against me."

She arrived at Children of the Night earlier this year, one day before her 17th birthday.

"I want to see my father in prison. Children of the Night is working on talking to the FBI. I can't think about it too much. I just want to move on."

Today, Crystal said, she's "going to school for the first time in a long time" and working on her GED. She wants to go to college.

Prostitute arrested from medical college, 3 students suspended

2007-10-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

Three students of S.N. Medical College, Agra have been banned from attending classes and staying in hostel till further orders from Proctorial Board.

The action was taken on the recommendation of a committee constituted after a call girl was arrested from the college. The Principal has issued certain guidelines to check such illegal activities in the college.

The academic circuit was shaken by the incident where a prostitute was arrested from the senior boys hostel about a week ago. The College administration constituted a committee and recommendation were forwarded to the Principal of College who took decision to suspend three medical college students of 2001, 2002 and 2004 batch till further orders by Proctoral Board.
"These three are suspended from attending classes and staying at hostel till further orders," Principal Dr N.C. Prajapati told the Hindustan Times.

from: in.news.yahoo.com

South Bay stripper shames city hall

2007-10-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

SOUTH BAY — It must be a girl. Because the faces in South Bay sure are pink.

A recently surfaced video shows women partying in the South Bay City Hall with a male stripper.

But officials who agreed to let the women have their little shindig said they were told the party was a baby shower.

"This is a major embarrassment to our city and our citizens," Mayor Clarence Anthony said. "It's unfortunate. We were trying to accommodate a baby shower - that's what it was."

Anthony said the recreation department double-booked the community center last Saturday night and the baby shower guests were going to be put out until city officials relented and let them have their soiree in city hall.

Anthony said it was an unprecedented decision - based on the fact they were told it was a baby shower.

"This will not happen again," Anthony said. "The image of our city is being tainted with the actions of the people who rented the facility."

The video was leaked to a television station, which aired a blurry image of a scantily clad male dancer on its 11 p.m. newscast.

Anthony said he's received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails.

"We are truly embarrassed," he said. "Did I already say that?"

from: palmbeachpost.com

US TV show exposes Durie's stripper past

2007-10-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Americans got a look at more than Jamie Durie's green thumb when TV gossip show Entertainment Tonight aired raunchy footage of his former career as a stripper.

In Australia it's no secret Durie was one of the stars of beefcake troupe, ManPower, but in the US it's not so well known.

Americans know Durie as Oprah Winfrey's gardening guy and the new host of the PBS gardening show, The Victory Garden.

"Oprah Winfrey introduced him to the world, now we show you what he was doing before he met Lady O," ET host Mary Hart told millions of American viewers.

ET unearthed interviews it did with a long-haired Durie in the mid-1990s when he was performing with ManPower in the US.

Footage of Durie, dancing on stage in skimpy white underpants, accompanied the story.

"Oh yeah, he may expose garden tips today, but we knew the Australian hunk way back when ... back when he was exposing his tanned and ripped bod as exotic dancer with a group of Aussies called ManPower," Hart said.

Winfrey gave Durie the ultimate US launching pad last year when she introduced the 37-year-old to her audience.

There was no mention of his ManPower days on Winfrey's show and in a recent interview with a Boston newspaper to promote The Victory Garden, Durie managed to tiptoe around it.

"I was in cabaret as a dancer," Durie, responding to a question about his former "show business" career, said.

from: au.news.yahoo.com

Mother snorts coke off of 2-month old son

2007-10-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Authorities in New York say a woman arrested for prostitution early Monday morning also snorted cocaine off the stomach of her infant son while breast-feeding him between tricks.

Wendy Cook, a 37-year-old from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was one of five women caught early Monday morning in Schenectady, N.Y., in an undercover sex sting operation.

While the other charges were described as "routine" misdemeanor prostitution, Schenectady police also booked Cook for five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of first degree reckless endangerment, a felony.

Cook was picked up early Monday morning after offering to perform sex acts on an undercover police officer, department spokesman Brian Kilcullen told ABC News.

Through interviews with others who had interacted with Cook near the time of her arrest, Kilcullen said investigators determined that she had performed oral sex on a pair of customers while her two children, an 8-week-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, were awake in the back seat of her car.

Authorities also allege that Cook used drugs in the car with the children, including smoking crack cocaine and using her son as a tool to ingest cocaine.

"We learned throughout our investigation that while breast-feeding, she snorted cocaine off the stomach of the infant," Kilcullen said.

The children were taken into protective custody by the state's Office of Children and Family Services and were released to family members, Kilcullen said.

Kilcullen called the charges some of the most despicable he's seen in 13 years on the force. "Too frequently, we'll get incidents where children are left alone while parents buy crack," he said, "but nothing as shocking as this."

At a court hearing Tuesday, New York City Court Judge Vince Versaci told Cook, "I have never come across such an atrocity in my life, and that's saying a lot," according to the Albany Times Union.

Versaci set Cook's bail at $15,000 after the woman signed an order that forbidded her from having contact with her two children, the Times Union reported.

Former stripper sells comedy pitch

2007-10-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Universal has snapped up "Girly Style," a pitch from a scribe who could claim to be the only writer in town to have started out as a stripper.

While the studio is keeping the plot details under wraps, it is understood that "Girly" is a female-driven comedy set at a college.

It comes from Diablo Cody, whose comedic memoir, "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper," was published by Gotham in December.

Cody sold "Juno," her first screenplay, to Mandate Pictures in 2005. That film, starring Ellen Page as a pregnant teen, was the runner-up for the Audience Award at the recent Toronto International Film Festival and is generating awards buzz in advance of its December 14 release.

from: reuters / hollywood reporter

Hollywood film 'inspired stripper's murder plot'

2007-10-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

A stripper who manipulated a lover into murdering her fiancé was simply following the plot of a Hollywood thriller with which she was fixated, a court has heard.

Prosecutors in the trial of Mechele Linehan in Anchorage, Alaska, say The Last Seduction and its scheming leading lady are so crucial to their case that they want the jury to watch the entire film.

The critically acclaimed 1994 film starred Linda Fiorentino as a hard-bitten New Yorker who flees to a small town after stealing her drug-dealing husband's money.

She finds a naive boyfriend and persuades him to try to murder her husband after she lies about being assaulted by him. She later frames him for the crime while she gets away with the loot.

John Carlin was convicted in April of killing Kent Leppink, a fisherman to whom Linehan was engaged, in 1996.

Prosecutors say Linehan, who denies murdering Mr Leppink, masterminded the killing and then persuaded Carlin, a former Marine, to "do the dirty work".

Linehan, 34, wanted to benefit from Leppink's life insurance policy which was worth £500,000. She was unaware he had secretly removed her as beneficiary five days before he was shot dead, the court heard.

Lora Aspiotis, a friend of Linehan and fellow stripper at the Great Alaskan Bush Company club, told jurors that they went to see The Last Seduction together a few months before Leppink's death.

Linehan was deeply impressed by Fiorentino's tough-talking character, said Miss Aspiotis.

"She told me that the character was her heroine and that she wanted to be just like her," she told the court.

Pat Gullufsen, prosecuting, said: "The seed is planted. There is someone she admires, wants to be like and the wheels start turning — she can apply that plan to her circumstances."

Linehan, whose lawyers say Carlin acted alone, wants the ending of the film to match the ending of her trial, too, Mr Gullufsen added.

"The ending, in her plan, is the boyfriend is the one convicted and she walks free," he said.

Kevin Fitzgerald, defending, admitted he had been "a little too preoccupied to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and view that movie". But he claimed the film might prejudice and confuse the jury.

Judge Philip Volland said he had not seen the film either and would watch it before deciding whether to show it to the jury.

Linehan, now married to a doctor and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Miss Fiorentino, denies murder.

Scott Hilke, another former fiancé of Linehan, told the trial that she had told him many disparaging things about Leppink shortly before he was killed. Prosecutors said she was lying.

Miss Fiorentino, whose Oscar nomination for the film was discounted on a technicality, said she was "horrified" that her film had been "dragged into a gruesome murder trial".

She told the New York Post: "Isn't it unbelievable? I'm a little shaken up by it."

from: telegraph.co.uk

Probe ordered into school stripping incident

2007-10-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) Stunned by the stripping of a seven-year-old student by her schoolteacher for failing to do her homework, Delhi's Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Sunday ordered an enquiry into the incident.

A 19-year-old teacher forced Rakhi, an upper kindergarten student at the private Star Shine Public School in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi, to strip in front of her class when she said that she had not done her homework.

The matter came to light when Rakhi refused to go to school the next day, Saturday. After gentle prodding by her mother, she narrated her horror tale.

'I was asked to strip in front of the entire class and then stand on the desk. My hands were tied behind with a rope... All my classmates kept mocking me throughout the day,' said a shocked Rakhi.

The teacher, identified only as Neha, was arrested after the victim's father Gopal Das, who runs a catering business, reported the matter to the police. The teacher has been released on bail.

'The teacher is just 19 years old and is not even well qualified. How can she teach our children? And to top it all, this is how she treats the kids... When I went to the school after the incident, I could find no one to talk to,' said her father.

Reacting to the callous incident, Dikshit has asked the education secretary to file a report.

The central ministry of women and child development (MWCD) has threatened to cancel the school's licence.

While the school principal remains incommunicado, there has been strong reaction from all quarters.

According to Bharati Sharma, chairperson of the Child Development Committee, such a case demands a non-bailable warrant because it shakes the belief and trust that a student has for his or her teacher.

'Such incidents are a black mark on the entire education system. A student looks up to his teacher, trusts him implicitly. An incident such as this not only shakes the belief of a student on his teacher but paints the entire teacher community in a poor light,' said Barkha Misra, a teacher of east Delhi.

from: in.news.yahoo.com

Prostitute raped at knife point

2007-09-30T14:27:00.001-07:00

GARDEN GROVE A prostitute raped at knife point managed to escape her attacker and then ran across the street naked on Saturday night, said Garden Grove Police Sgt. Ed Leiva said today.

The victim and the suspect met in Santa Ana, where they agreed to have sex, Leiva said. The pair drove to the rear of a business between Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove when the man pulled out a knife and raped the victim, Leiva said.

The woman then ran across the street naked when she was stopped by the Garden Grove police, he said.

The suspect was last seen in a brown, two-door Chevy truck.

from: ocregister.com

Transsexual MP offered granny role in film of life

2007-09-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Former prostitute, drag queen, mayor, MP and man, Georgina Beyer has been a person of many parts - but the prospect of playing her own grandmother in a film of her life proved one role too far.

Beyer, famous as the world's first transsexual member of Parliament, says she was offered a cameo in the forthcoming biopic, provisionally titled Girl, but turned it down.

"I overlooked the age issue," said Beyer. "But I said 'no thank you'. I loved her very much, but she died when I was 9. And I've got to divorce myself from the creative process."

The film, due to go into production next year, is being made by Australian company Lone Hand, produced by New Zealander Roger Simpson. The script was written by Simpson's partner Sally Irwin.

"It starts with my experience of being pack-raped in Sydney in the 1970s," Beyer said. "It's a pretty sensational beginning."

The former MP, who left Parliament earlier this year, said the film had been planned for three or four years and she had offered her input on an earlier draft of the script.

"I told them, what we need is really personal stuff which the public is not used to seeing. They took that on board. But I'm no bloody writer!"

Asked if she had considered who might portray her on screen, Beyer said she thought someone like cabaret performer Mika might do a good job.

"It could be a man and a woman... you might have a couple of genders.

"I have a preference for somebody who is a New Zealander, they may have an understanding of those elements of New Zealand society in the chunk of my life they are covering in the film."

Beyer revealed she had previously been approached by a number of cable networks in the United States wanting to make a movie of her life.

But she said she had no desire to see herself portrayed by someone with a half-formed accent "like Meryl Streep playing Lindy Chamberlain.

"This is an absolutely New Zealand story and the bloody Aussies are going to make it," she joked. "I want it to be a transtasman thing. I hope it is a true co-production."

Beyer said the script was partly based on her autobiography A Change for the Better.

Asked if it was difficult revisiting episodes in her life, such as her experience of prostitution, drug use and rape and her gender transformation she replied: "I'm over it. It doesn't trouble me in the psychological sense. Except that I get very angry whenever I hear about cases of rape or abuse."

Since competing in Dancing with the Stars, leaving Parliament, declining to run for the Wellington mayoralty and famously pulling out of a stage play at the 11th hour, Beyer has been searching for a role to suit her talents and varied experience.

Just before speaking to the Herald on Sunday she had been turned down for a high-profile human rights job. "Post- Parliament you are box-office poison for a while," she said.

"Maybe I should become a madam."

She is now looking forward to the cameras rolling on Girl and says that she will be available to the actor (or actors) charged with bringing her to life on screen.

She admitsthat she is excited by the project.

"I hope it will make New Zealand feel proud of me," she said.

"We made history together."

Inmate confessed to prostitute slayings, lawyer claims

2007-09-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

The lawyer for a Salem County handyman under scrutiny in the murders of four Atlantic City prostitutes said yesterday he has given authorities taped conversations in which another man confesses to the killings.

The lawyer, James J. Leonard Jr., said the man contacted him by phone last week from the Atlantic County Jail, where he was being held on an unrelated charge, and admitted strangling the women last November.

The man provided more information in taped follow-up conversations, saying he had sex with the women before killing them, Leonard said. The man sounded remorseful, even suicidal, telling Leonard he had tried to take his own life several times in the wake of the murders, the lawyer said.

"He indicated that he did not want to see an innocent man go to jail and that he basically wanted to get this off his chest," Leonard said. "He indicated he wanted to 'do the right thing.'"

Leonard -- who contends the recordings will clear his client, Terry Oleson, of suspicion in the case -- said he provided copies of the tapes to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office about 10 days ago. The Star-Ledger is withholding the name of the man who called Leonard because he has not been charged in the killings.

First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik declined to confirm yesterday whether his office had received the tapes, saying only that investigators follow every lead they receive in the hunt for a killer.

"This continues to be an ongoing, open and active investigation, and at this point, there is no credible evidence that would warrant bringing a criminal charge today," Talasnik said.

The prosecutor said his office, as a rule, does not comment on suspects or confessions, noting in general that not all turn out to be true. He cited as one example the case of John Mark Karr, who made headlines around the world last year when he issued a bogus confession in the 1996 murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.

Leonard said he found the man's account credible, though ultimately, he said, "It's law enforcement's job to determine that."

"Do people come out of the woodwork and confess to things?" Leonard asked. "Yes, they do. But I don't think there are many people who would interject themselves in a quadruple homicide just for the hell of it."

He said the man "seemed obviously troubled by what he had done" and apparently attempted suicide again in recent days.

The man, a 45-year-old South Jersey native, was transferred from the Atlantic County Jail to another institution Thursday for an unspecified "evaluation," said the jail's warden, Gary Merline.

"It's a medical-related thing, and I really can't get into it," Merline said. He said he was unaware of any confession.

The man is known to investigators in the case. A petty criminal with a long record that includes convictions for theft by deception, forgery and shoplifting, he was interviewed extensively shortly after the killings because he knew at least two of the victims. At the time, he denied any involvement.

"I partied with a couple of these girls," he told The Press of Atlantic City last year. "I know I didn't kill nobody and didn't hurt nobody."

The bodies of the women -- Kim Raffo, 35, Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, Barbara Breidor, 42, and Molly Jean Dilts, 20 -- were discovered Nov. 20 just over the Atlantic City line, in Egg Harbor Township. Their barefoot bodies lay about 320 feet apart behind a low-rent motel.

Oleson, Leonard's client, lived in the motel at the time, leading investigators to look more closely at him. In April, authorities questioned him, impounded his car and searched his home in rural Alloway Township.

It was during the search that authorities found evidence he had allegedly videotaped a 15-year-old girl in the nude two years earlier. Charged with invasion of privacy, he has been held in the Salem County Jail since then in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Leonard, who contends the bail figure is disproportionately high because of the Atlantic County murder case, said he now expects Oleson will have his bail reduced either before or during his next court appearance Oct. 12.

Prostitute faces charges over daughter

2007-09-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

A south Auckland prostitute who marketed her 16-year-old daughter for sex will be charged under the Prostitution Reform Act.

And her daughter has been referred to police Youth Aid after falsely claiming she had been raped by a man when a sexual transaction soured at Mountford Park about 1.30am on Thursday.

Police swarmed a central Manukau carpark yesterday looking to arrest the man after the mother called to say she recognised him. But when police interviewed the man, he denied raping the teenager and the girl's story turned out to be false.

Detective Sergeant Steve Brewer said the man told police that he gave the woman a cannabis "tinnie" for the services of her daughter because he did not have enough money.

The man arranged to pay the daughter with cannabis tinnies and a $20 note and an argument occurred over the amount being given following the act. The man left the girl and drove away.

Mr Brewer said that when police questioned the girl again, she admitted lying about being raped.

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Her mother was to face a charge in relation to allegedly profiting from a commercial sex worker under the age of 18.

Police were not charging the man for cannabis offences as he did not have any on him when they spoke to him.

Prostitute's john reports rip-off

2007-09-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

DAYTON — Sept. 24: A complainant reported he left a club on North Main Street, looking for a prostitute.

He found one. They went to a vacant apartment complex on Delaware Avenue. Several females were there.

He told police he must have passed out because when he awoke, his vehicle keys and vehicle, three credit cards, a bank card, a cell phone and a watch were gone. He said he may have been drugged.

His vehicle was recovered on West Hudson Avenue.

Hunt follows rape of teen prostitute

2007-09-27T10:47:00.001-07:00

A 16-year-old prostitute was raped by a client after a "transaction" negotiated by her mother turned sour in South Auckland.

A member of the public found the girl semi-conscious in Mountford Park, Manurewa, about 1.30am yesterday after she had been raped and kicked in the head.

The rapist had picked her up earlier from Northcrest Way, where she and her mother had been working, said Detective Sergeant Steve Brewer.

"The mother asked the daughter to take the trick. She left in the car with him [but] became concerned ... and decided that she wouldn't proceed with the sexual transaction.

"He didn't take well to her pulling out and he's forced her to have sex. He's raped her in the car and kicked her in the head as she's got out of the car."

Child, Youth and Family had been told about the girl and her mother, Mr Brewer said.

Police are hunting a solidly built European male in his early 20s with dark-blond hair and a moustache.

He wore a white hooded sweatshirt with "echo" and a black T-shirt and drove a black Honda Civic with a registration that began with letters similar to DPQ.

Former Stripper Sues Packers' Harris Over 2005 Encounter In Club

2007-09-27T10:34:00.001-07:00

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- A former stripper has sued Green Bay Packers cornerback Al Harris, claiming he sexually assaulted her in a strip club in 2005.

Harris' agent said the allegations are unfounded.

"I guess everybody has the right to sue, but in this case it just seems like extortion," agent Jack Bechta said. "This was something that the city and state had investigated very thoroughly, and they found nothing worth a charge."

Investigators determined that Harris and the woman had sexual contact in a private room at the Cheetah Pompano Beach in April 2005. But, citing inconsistent evidence and conflicting witness statements, Broward County prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against Harris.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Broward County Circuit Court, claims surveillance cameras in the club's private room were not functioning during the incident. The club is also named as a defendant.

The woman, who is not named in the lawsuit, is seeking unspecified damages, said her attorney, Joseph Nusbaum.

"She has suffered physical and emotional damages," Nusbaum said Thursday.

Harris, 32, is a 10-year NFL veteran with a starting role in the Packers defense. He did not participate in team practice Wednesday, said team spokesman Sam Kasan, who declined comment on the lawsuit.

OSU's third-team QB Henton charged with soliciting a prostitute

2007-09-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Ohio State's third-team quarterback Antonio Henton was arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute.

The 20-year-old Henton entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in Franklin County Municipal Court to the misdemeanor charge. Lara Baker, chief prosecutor in the city's attorney's office, said the penalty carries a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, but generally results in a small fine.

Henton, a redshirt freshman, was arrested by Columbus police Monday night near campus.

Ohio State said in a statement that Henton will not travel to Minnesota for Saturday's game.

"It's a great disappointment for our Buckeye football family, and we are very concerned for Antonio," coach Jim Tressel said in the statement. "Antonio is keenly aware of the standard we have for ourselves, and that makes this even more disappointing."

Creating More "Hooker Free Zones"

2007-09-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

The problem is, Huntington officers posing as prostitutes and johns are out of new disguises and they're too well known to keep sting operations working.

So chief Holbrook says we can bust hookers before the transaction, for prostitution loitering.

When she's not tending to her parrots on the porch, Ana Gaston is out stenciling hooker free zone on her sixth avenue sidewalk, and taking requests for more stencils from neighbors fed up with a seemingly endless parade of streetwalkers.

Ana Gaston says my roommate was assaulted down on the corner...it sparks more violence, it's a criminal step.

On Chief Holbrook’s suggestion, Huntington city attorney Scott McClure researched and wrote an ordinance amendment that lets police make an arrest by simply observing someone who repeatedly beckons to, engages, hails, and waves arms or other body parts - to solicit sex.

Scott McClure says add up all of the above and it shows someone is a prostitute, or is soliciting prostitution.

Randy points out that in a thick stack of Huntington police reports from over the weekend, not one prostitution arrest, but the folks we talked to on the street, say they saw plenty of prostitution, all weekend long.

Chief Holbrook, the city attorney, Ana Gaston, they all believe the new hooker loitering law will spark more arrests and create more hooker free zones.

Ana Gaston says it will help clean up the streets and all the problems in Huntington that go with it

The law talks about selling sex for money.

We're told some city council members want to expand the law to define prostitution as sex for money or drugs.

The city attorney says he gets a little worried about constitutionality there...so, the ordinance will stick with sex for money as the definition.

A first time prostitution arrest is a misdemeanor.

The penalty, up to a 100 dollar fine, or up to 30 days in jail, or both.

Police Charge Woman With Solicitation Of Young Girls

2007-09-24T12:22:00.001-07:00

West Manchester Township Police charged a woman Thursday in connection with trying to recruit a girl inside a York Fair bathroom to become a stripper.

Police allege Kathy Lynne Hartman, 40, of Mechanicsburg approached a 13-year-old girl Sept. 12 inside a bathroom at the Toyota Arena. The woman told the girl she was pretty and gave her a business card for a strip club in Adams County.

Police charged Hartman with unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation of children, criminal solicitation to commit sexual exploitation of children and corruption of minors.

Hartman was arraigned Thursday before District Justice Daniel Garber and posted a portion of her $10,000 bail.

"It sounds like good police work, and it was made possible by a good employee and we're grateful for her effort," York Fair Vice President Gene Schenck said.

Schenck was referring to Dorothea Bennett, a bathroom attendant, who told police Sept. 12 that, earlier that day, she heard a woman tell two young girls she was a stripper and could teach them the "tricks of the trade."

The woman gave the girls - ages 10 and 11 - the business cards of an Adams County strip club, police said. Bennett intervened, telling the girls to "go to your mothers" and telling the woman to "get out of my bathroom."

Later in the evening, Bennett said, she saw the same woman - this time in a long blond wig and a different dress - again trying to recruit young girls.

Bennett identified the woman, and police questioned her. The woman told police she thought the girls were 18, Bennett said.

On Sept. 13, the 13-year-old girl told West Manchester Township Police that she, too, was solicited by the woman in a bathroom at the York Fair.

The 10- and 11-year-olds have not spoken to police, a news release stated Friday.

Police believe Hartman distributed numerous business cards advertising the strip club throughout the bathrooms at the fair, as well as at tables in and around the Toyota Arena, the news release stated.

Schenck said Friday he believed the fair's attendance was about 615,000 over 10 days, and, that in that time with that many people, unfortunately, things can happen.

"It certainly wasn't something we expect at the fair; it's not the kind of thing we want at the fair," he said.

Oscar De La Hoya Denies Claims that Stripper Took Racy Pics

2007-09-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Days after pictures surfaced supposedly showing boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya in women’s lingerie, a stripper is now claiming that she was the one behind the camera.

A new report says the pictures were taken by a Scores stripper with whom he had an affair.

But Oscar told “Extra” that the pictures are fake – and that his wife is actually getting a good laugh out of the situation.

Oscar’s good friend Mario Lopez spoke with him at length about the scandal and says, “His wife was teasing him that he looks better in lingerie than she does.”

Oscar and his lawyer both insist that the pictures are the work of a clever prankster skilled in Photoshop.

Said Mario, “I just spoke with Oscar about the photos and we both got a big kick out of them. He said he looked like his aunt.”

He added, “He’s very comfortable in his own skin...he’s really not sweating it.”

Maui police arrest 12 "johns" over the last two weekends

2007-09-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Despite negligible prostitution arrests in previous years, Maui vice officers conducted their first reverse sting operation over the past two weekends, netting a dozen alleged potential customers.

Undercover officers posing as streetwalkers targeted the demand rather than the supply in what the Maui Police Department dubbed Operation Reversal of Fortune, arresting 12 alleged "johns" in two areas.

Vice officers arrested three men Friday in Lahaina, and nine over the Sept. 7-8 weekend in Wailuku.

That means Maui police have arrested more "johns" in the last two weeks than prostitutes in the last seven years.

"We don't have a significant problem with prostitution," conceded vice squad Capt. Gerald Matsunaga.

He gave two reasons for conducting the sting.

"One is, we wanted to curtail any prostitution activity occurring anywhere in Maui County. No. 2 is to gather intelligence in prostitution activity in Maui County."

He described intelligence efforts as "an ongoing thing" that spans the worlds of prostitution, drugs and gambling.

Maui police have conducted numerous undercover sting operations to catch prostitutes, he said.

However, "it's the first time we've utilized the reverse sting, where we targeted johns," Matsunaga said. "They all, of course, deny it, like anybody else."

The sting operation did not require a lot of manpower, he added. On average, seven to eight officers were used each night.

Matsunaga would not disclose whether the undercover officers were male or female.

Police also would not reveal when more prostitution sting operations might be expected.

Maui police arrested two suspected prostitutes last year, two in 2005, none in 2004, one in 2003, one in 2002, none in 2001 and five in 2000.

Patron strips to avoid footing huge bill

2007-09-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

A Chatsworth man appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after doing a Full Monty to allegedly escape paying his bill.

Jason Pillay, 35, — dubbed the “con man stripper” — has caused a stir at several Pietermaritzburg restaurants of late. Since November last year he has stripped off his clothes after being presented with the bill for his large quantities of food and alcohol.

He was remanded in custody until Thursday.

Pillay was apprehended last Tuesday at the Cascades Mall Simply Fish restaurant —- where he ordered 14 double whiskies and a brandy and Coca-Cola — by Townhill police.

When the waiter presented his bill, Pillay shocked the management and patrons with his striptease act. A Simply Fish employee managed to steer Pillay into the toilet and out of sight.

Pillay has been charged with indecent exposure and damage to property.

The former Townhill Hospital patient was first arrested after stripping at the Cascades Spur in November last year. He was charged with bilking and indecent exposure.

He was given leave to seek psychological assistance and ordered to return to court. A warrant of arrest was issued after he failed to return.

Since then Pillay has allegedly bilked at the Scottsville Mall Spur, Turtle Bay, Mugg & Bean, Pannarottis and Ocean Basket in Pietermaritzburg.

He was arrested and released on three different occasions. Pillay now faces charges relating to the other incidents of indecent exposure.

Ex-New Orleans prostitute says Vitter was a client

2007-09-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Wendy Cortez, whose real name is Wendy Ellis, says she had a sexual relationship with Vitter, R-La., in 1999, when he was a state legislator.

Copies of the results of Cortez's polygraph test, which she took at Flynt's request, will be provided to reporters at the news conference at Flynt's office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Hustler said in a news release Monday.

Vitter spokesman Joel Digrado wouldn't comment on the Flynt news conference. In an e-mail, Digrado said, "Sen. Vitter and his wife have addressed all of this very directly. The senator is focused on important Louisiana priorities like the water resources bill and the Iraq debate."

Vitter, 46, apologized in July for committing a "very serious sin" and acknowledged his Washington phone number was among those called several years ago by an escort service run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. The admission came after Flynt's Hustler magazine told the senator that his telephone number was linked to Palfrey's escort service.

Federal prosecutors accuse Palfrey of running a prostitution ring, but she claims her escort service was a legitimate business. Vitter was not charged with a crime.

Flynt has offered to pay $1 million to anyone who can show he or she had a sexual encounter with a member of Congress or a high-ranking government official. It is unclear whether he has offered Cortez any money.

Vitter, a first-term senator elected in 2004, has denied having relationships with New Orleans prostitutes. In a call-in radio show during the Senate campaign, he dismissed as "absolutely and completely untrue" that he had a relationship with a Wendy Cortez.

Stripper Spears's MTV comeback panned

2007-09-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

BRITNEY Spears launched her highly anticipated comeback at the MTV Video Music Awards today, drawing ridicule by dressing up as a stripper and miming her new single.

The 25-year-old singer, whose professional achievements have been overshadowed by her personal crises in recent years, performed Gimme More in a black sequined bikini and knee-high boots.

No longer boasting the buff body that helped drive her to international superstardom almost a decade ago, the mother of two moved sluggishly around the stage at the Palms casino, often with the support of a troupe of dancers.

At one point, the camera panned to rapper 50 Cent, sitting in the audience, who looked bewildered by the action on stage.

"She blew it," gossip columnist Perez Hilton said. "Everybody knows Britney lip-syncs, but that's because she dances so much. She barely even danced in this. It was so bad. It was painful. It was embarrassing. And I loved it!"

Comedian Sarah Silverman also showed no mercy. She took to the stage when the performance was over, declaring that the singer's young children were "the most adorable mistakes you'll ever see".

It was not the only excitement at the two-hour show. Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, both former husbands of model Pamela Anderson, got into a fight while Alicia Keys was performing.

"There were no fists, they were just holding each other, grabbing each other," said Tom Higginson, singer of the pop band Plain White Ts. "Security had to break them up."

Almost lost in the shuffle was the fact that Spears' former boyfriend Justin Timberlake took home four statuettes, including male artist of the year.

Along with R&B singer Beyonce, he led the field with seven nominations. Beyonce won a single award - most earth-shattering collaboration - for her duet with Colombian pop singer Shakira on Beautiful Liar.

R&B singer Rihanna won the top prize, video of the year, for her smash hit Umbrella. That tune also won for monster single of the year.

Hip-hop singer Kanye West went home empty-handed after receiving five nominations. He was also not thrilled that Spears took the plum opening slot.

"I can't believe she would perform. She hasn't had a hit record in years," the outspoken hip-hop star improvised during a performance the night before.

Spears released her last studio album in 2003, the commercial disappointment In the Zone - and West has recorded three albums in that time. She has been working on a new album for more than a year, although it is not known when it will be released.

MTV brought the show to Las Vegas for the first time, hoping to reverse a sharp slide in viewership for its awards bash.

Last year's ceremony in New York drew 5.8 million viewers, down from eight million in 2005 and 10.3 million in 2004, according to Nielsen Media Research.

By contrast, the Grammys drew just over 20 million viewers in February.

Prostitute charged with murder in death of Villanova star Porter

2007-09-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

A prostitute who was recorded as saying that she wasn't "losing any sleep" over the May death of former Villanova basketball star Howard Porter aided and abetted his killing, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday.

Tonya Evette Johnson, 33, was charged with second-degree murder for her role in Porter's death. She told authorities that she was street walking near her St. Paul apartment when she approached Porter for a "date." She said she brought him to her apartment to exchange sex for money and crack cocaine when four men rushed in and beat him, according to the complaint.

The complaint said an autopsy showed no drugs in Porter's blood when he died -- welcome news to some who knew that Porter had struggled with drug addiction in the past but had since turned his life around.

"That is good news," said Chris Crutchfield, spokesman for Ramsey County Community Corrections, where Porter worked as a probation officer. "Again, we want to stay focused on catching the people who did this. It's even better news that (authorities) have made another arrest."

Porter disappeared the night of May 18 after leaving his St. Paul home. He was found in Minneapolis the next morning, badly injured, and was taken to the hospital as a John Doe. Authorities realized later that the assault victim was Porter. He died on May 26.

According to the complaint, Johnson, also known as Tonya Evette Jones, brought Porter to her apartment on the night he disappeared. Johnson told investigators that four masked men rushed in, threw her to the floor, and demanded money and drugs from Porter. Johnson told police the four men beat Porter "real bad, God real bad" with their fists, feet and chairs and that "there was blood everywhere," the complaint said.

Johnson told police she knew one of the men was Rashad Arthur Raleigh, 29, who has been charged with second-degree murder. Authorities have said the investigation is ongoing.

The complaint said that Johnson told authorities in a Sept. 4 interview that she believes the door to her residence was locked and that Raleigh had a key. Johnson also said she cleaned up Porter's blood in the apartment after the beating.

And in a phone call recorded at the residence on May 23, Johnson is recorded as saying she wasn't "losing any sleep or getting any gray hair" about Porter's death. She also used expletives and said she didn't care about it and that "mines got to eat too, you should have been here."

The complaint said Johnson admitted it was her voice on the recording, but denied that she was talking about Porter's beating and death.

In a series of recorded calls, the complaint said, Raleigh told a caller from the Ramsey County Workhouse that Porter had "rushed" him and "didn't go along with the program." Raleigh allegedly also said that he robbed Porter because he needed money, but that Johnson had come up with the idea.

Porter was a standout at Villanova, leading the Wildcats to the 1971 NCAA championship game and was selected outstanding player of the tournament despite the Wildcats' loss to UCLA in the final. But he was stripped of his award and the team's accomplishments were wiped from the record books after it was learned he had begun dealing with an agent before the season ended.

Porter was drafted 32nd overall by the Chicago Bulls in 1971 and played seven professional seasons including stints with Detroit and New York but never achieved the success he had in college.

He became addicted to drugs and came to Minnesota for treatment. He decided to stay and became a probation officer for Ramsey County in 1995. Those who worked with Porter said he often used his past struggle with drugs to show his probation clients that they, too, could turn their lives around.

Witness jeopardizes ex-stripper murder case

2007-09-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

BOYFRIEND SLAIN: Sister of defendant refuses; son of another fiance hard to locate.

The opening next week of the highly anticipated murder trial of former Anchorage stripper Mechele Linehan was in jeopardy Wednesday because a key witness was refusing to testify, according to the prosecutor in the case.

And another central witness -- the son of the man who has been convicted in the slaying Linehan allegedly had a hand in -- surfaced late Wednesday night, after he was thought to have vanished.

The uncertainty of the witnesses' availability had stirred the prosecution to file paperwork earlier with the court asking for a delay in the trial that was set to begin Monday. Prosecutors could not be reached Wednesday night to determine if the re-emergence of John Carlin IV would change their minds.

Harried phone calls were passing between lawyers late into the night. A pre-trial court hearing scheduled for this afternoon is expected to resolve some of the questions.

Linehan's sister, Melissa Hughes, told prosecutors last week she would not take the stand against her sibling, said prosecutor Pat Gullufsen.

Linehan, a former Bush Company stripper who is married to a doctor in Washington, is accused of conspiring to murder a former fiance, Kent Leppink, in 1996. Another fiance at the time, John Carlin III, was convicted in April of carrying out what prosecutors said was a well-thought-out plan by the pair to kill the man for a $1 million life insurance policy, which Linehan erroneously believed would be coming to her. They were arrested in October 2006.

Early in the day Wednesday, Gullufsen said Carlin IV, now in his late 20s, could not be found and seemingly did not want to testify. Carlin IV's lawyer, Darryl Thompson, late Wednesday, however, said he had contacted his client and that he would be testifying.

Asked whether his client had always intended to testify, Thompson said, "I think emotionally, he's kind of drained of this whole situation. So, is it his desire, does he want to do this? "No. But he knows he has an obligation and he doesn't want to see the state go through a bunch of rigmarole, and hassles, and warrants. ... He doesn't want to do that. He will come and if asked questions, he will answer."

He also said, "You know, it's a pretty difficult case. I think it's been difficult for him since he knows that his testimony played a role, in part, in his father going to jail."

Though Carlin's surfacing could solve one witness problem, the matter of Linehan's sister refusing to testify could still hinder the prosecution's case.

"Melissa is a very powerful circumstantial witness as to the state of mind of Ms. Linehan around the time that Mr. Leppink was killed," said Sidney Billingslea, an attorney who defended Carlin.

Prosecutors had planned to present the same witnesses and testimony at Linehan's trial as they did at Carlin's.

Linehan's older sister told prosecutors last week she won't testify against her sister. She told Gullufsen it would be extremely difficult to testify and maintain a relationship with the rest of her family.

Hughes is a key witness in the state's case. Just after the murder of Leppink, the younger sister told her older sibling that he got what he deserved, Hughes testified at Carlin's trial. "She said it was too bad someone didn't torture him first," she testified.

She also told the jury that her sister asked her, much more tech savvy than Linehan, to erase the hard drive on a computer. She didn't. The computer was later found to have what prosecutors claim were incriminating e-mails providing circumstantial evidence of the murder plot. During Carlin's trial, the defendant's lawyers disputed that, saying the e-mails needed to be read in context.

Carlin IV's testimony is expected to also be key. Jurors after the conviction of his father said it was Carlin IV's testimony that persuaded them to find his father guilty.

On the witness stand, Carlin IV said that he saw his father and Linehan cleaning a gun in a bathroom sink after the murder.

Stripper to testify in rape hearing

2007-09-05T05:40:00.001-07:00

It will be up to a jury to decide between the word of a stripper and the Newton Falls man she accused of rape after he became infatuated with her.

The 20-year-old single mother of one, who worked as an exotic dancer at Chaser’s in Rootstown and then Club 76 in Austintown, is scheduled to testify today in the courtroom of Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos.

Attorney John Juhasz, who represents Jeffrey L. Town, 48, of Tioga Street, Newton Falls, claims only consensual sex occurred in his apartment Dec. 11, 2006.

‘‘It was a consensual sexual relationship. Maybe a little weird, but nonetheless...’’ Juhasz said in his opening statements after a jury was seated Tuesday afternoon.

Town faces charges of kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and three counts of rape.

Tanya Bier, another dancer who worked with the victim at both locations, told jurors Tuesday, ‘‘He would come in and pay so she wouldn’t have to dance. He would pay her to smoke even though she didn’t smoke.

‘‘He said he loved her and wanted to take care of her and her daughter.’’

Bier also described a frantic friend who was crying and screaming hysterically, the night in question.

‘‘I told her don’t take a shower and go to the hospital,’’ she said.

The victim’s mother and brother of Brimfield also testified briefly, describing the same frantic woman, who finally wound up there before her brother took her to Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, where Newton Falls police took a report.

County Assistant Prosecutor David Toepfer told the panel of seven men and five women that the victim, who went by the nickname of Roxy, was bruised around the mouth when Town grabbed her from behind, and that she had marks around her wrists where she was tied with duct tape.

Toepfer also describe a cut on the hand of the dancer, where he said Town pulled a knife and threatened the woman, slightly wounding her. A grand jury declined to indict Town on a charge of felonious assault based on the wound.

Toepfer said he has DNA evidence even though Juhasz doesn’t dispute the two had sex when she came to his apartment to clean and earn extra money to pay him for a car she had been borrowing and intended to buy.

Jurors hearing the case will not be informed that Town also faces an enhancement on his charges that he was a repeat violent offender with a prior conviction in the mid-1980s for kidnapping and felonious assault. Toepfer declined to comment on the prior conviction and the judge only would consider it at sentencing if Town is convicted.

LARTER THROWS HERSELF INTO STRIP SCENES

2007-09-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

HEROES actress ALI LARTER put all her energy into undressing for an episode of the U.S television show in a bid to be the 'world's best stripper'. Educating herself in lap-dancing clubs, Larter was not daunted by the prospect and spent "four hours a day for a whole week up and down a lap-dancer's pole". She says, "I thought, 'If I'm going to do this I'm going to be the best goddamn stripper the world has ever seen.' So I really threw myself into it." The ex-model and star of 1999 movie Varsity Blues insists she discovered 'a new-found respect' for women in the lap-dancing profession.

Malaysia's Muslim transsexuals battle sex change woes

2007-09-03T11:07:00.001-07:00

When Khartini Slamah first came out as a transsexual, he was a dutiful Muslim son by day and a prostitute by night, working on the streets of the Malaysian capital.

The option of sex change surgery was out of the question in this moderate Muslim country where Muslim transsexuals are banned from changing their gender and same sex relationships are a criminal offence.

"I tried to find a job but because of my sexuality I was turned down," said the 44-year-old former prostitute who now works as an activist and counselor to other transsexuals.

Twenty years later, sex change surgery may be routine in some countries but it's still banned by law in Malaysia -- at least for Muslims. The ruling doesn't apply to non-Muslims who make up about half of the estimated 30,000 transsexuals in Malaysia.

The ban stems from an Islamic belief that it is wrong to alter that which God has given. This belief also forbids Muslims from dressing up as the opposite sex and undergoing major cosmetic surgery other than for medical reasons.

Non-Muslims don't have the same problems, although they do sometimes have trouble registering their new gender with the state and like their Muslim counterparts, many have to work as prostitutes as there are few job opportunities for transsexuals.

Malaysia's transsexuals are in a legal limbo.

In February 2005, a Malaysian court allowed a non-Muslim male transsexual to change the gender on his identity card after he showed medical evidence of sex-change by surgery, media reports said at the time.

But later that year, the government declared as invalid the marriage of a couple in which the wife was a non-Muslim man who had undergone sex change surgery, saying it was a same-sex union.

"We are tolerant of them (transsexuals). But whether we will have laws that will protect them -- I don't think with the conservative nature of our culture -- that we will," said criminologist P. Sundramoorthy.

For Khartini, dressed in a flowing lilac tunic with his feet squeezed into stiletto heels, the conflict between sexual identity and religion is sometimes too hard to bear.

"We are all in a dilemma. We are Muslims. They say this is not allowed, but they never tell us what are the options. I felt like it's being used to oppress. But I know that religion, Islam is so flexible...," said Khartini, a practicing Muslim.

INNATE OR IMBUED?

Despite its modern exterior, Malaysia remains conservative. Capital Kuala Lumpur -- a bustling metropolis dotted by towering skyscrapers, flashy art galleries and riotous gay bars -- has a deeply religious underbelly.

U.S. singer Gwen Stefani was forced to cover up her usually revealing stage costumes when she performed recently in Kuala Lumpur after Islamic groups expressed fears she could corrupt the country's youth.

Government plans to introduce sex education in schools and to give free needles and condoms to drug addicts provoked a fierce debate, with some religious leaders saying this would promote promiscuity.

The past few decades have seen a rise in religious fervor among Muslims in Malaysia, with an increase in the popularity of Islamic banking and more women eschewing Western attire in favor of traditional Malay dress and headscarves.

Transsexuals are still social outcasts, the victims of physical abuse and verbal harassment by the public, police and religious authorities, who advocate counseling and the use of hormone injections to suppress transsexuals' inclinations.

"We very much encourage them to return to their original form," said Abdullah Md Zin, a minister for religious affairs. "We cannot accept them."

Transsexuals say their preferences are innate.

"There's something biological," said Teh Yik Koon, a criminologist and sociologist. "In my research, there are those as young as three, four years old, who don't feel as if they fit into their assigned gender role."

Few doctors perform gender realignment operations in Malaysia so those seeking the surgery must pay exorbitant prices abroad. Muslims, who make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million population, risk being brought before Islamic courts, which under Malaysian law hear civil cases involving Muslims.

Islamic cleric, Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin, one of Malaysia's most moderate Muslim leaders believes transsexuals should be fined or jailed if counseling proves ineffective at deterring them.

"We must try to reform them and give them advice. We must not allow them to stray," said the cleric. "Imagine if this world were filled with transsexuals -- what would happen to the human race?" ($1=3.472 Malaysian Ringgit)

Five hooker orgie for Ronaldo

2007-09-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

He was never known for being a quiet guy, but Cristiano Ronaldo perhaps went better even by his own standards as a British newspaper uncovered a sex and booze night with five hookers in the company of new Man Utd signing Anderson.

The Sun reported that Manchester Utd officials are looking into the alleged affair, reporting that Ronaldo had sex for hours with the escort girls in his luxury pad.

It seems Ronaldo, with pal Anderson, partied all night long while having sex in jacuzzis and a pool, The Sun reported.

The girls took a series of photos inside the house on mobile phones, one even videoed and snapped Brazilian midfielder Anderson naked apart from a pair of boxer shorts.

The sex binge finally ended around 5am when one of the men told the girls to be quiet as Ronaldo was tired and he had gone to bed, the paper revealed.

God knows what happened when they won the league.

College students sold on stripper poles

2007-08-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

Summer is fast coming to end, and it's the time of year when our nation's youth begin heading back to college with a packing list that most likely includes the usual items — laptops, iPods, backpacks.

Now one company wants our best and brightest to bring one more thing back to school: A portable stripper pole.

Long standard equipment at naughty nightspots across the country, stripper poles lately have become somewhat of celebrity fitness fad, with the likes of Paris Hilton and Carmen Electra installing them in their Hollywood homes.

Now a Fresno, Calif.-based company called Lil' Mynx is marketing their line of adult entertainment accessories to college students for installation in their dorm rooms and frat houses.

They claim business is booming for the poles, which sell for $299 each.

What's more, company founder Randy Blacker says that his stripper poles aren't just for kinky coeds. "We've sold [them] to quite a few guys that use it for triatholon training because it's a good core-body strength builder," he told MSNBC this week.

Those must be the same guys who read Playboy for the articles.

Video for this news story can be seen here:

VIDEO

Good Samaritan Sues Over Prostitution Arrest

2007-08-30T07:04:00.001-07:00

It was 8 a.m. when she and her husband, Erasmo, dropped their 6-year-old daughter off at school and had picked up their 22-year-old daughter to go out for breakfast when they saw the woman waving her arms at 53rd and Kedzie last November.

The Palacioses, of Chicago, claim the woman approached their car, parked outside Manolo’s restaurant, leaned in to the passenger side where Rocio was sitting and asked Erasmo if he wanted oral sex for $20 or sex for $25.

The couple laughed, realizing this wasn’t a woman in distress after all.

But within seconds, Chicago Police swarmed the family car, hauling Erasmo Palacios out in handcuffs. He was charged with solicitation of a prostitute.

His daughter, who had just run in to exchange her coffee for a hot chocolate, screamed, while his wife cried in fear.

Eight hours later, Palacios, who has no criminal record, was released from custody. And weeks later, charges against him were dropped.

Now, Erasmo Palacios is suing the city and the officers involved in his arrest, saying they violated his civil rights during an incident he described as both frightening and ridiculous.

“I’m so lucky I was with my wife -- imagine if I had to try to tell her and she wasn’t with me,” he said, before laughing at the image. “She’d never believe me. Never.”

A Chicago Police report offers few details, saying only that it was Erasmo Palacios who asked for sex, never mentioning his wife in the car or his daughter nearby.

Attorneys Lonny Ben Ogus and Joe Cavanaugh also want to know what happened to the family’s 1983 Mercedes. It was impounded that November day and, Palacios said, his wife and daughter were even threatened with arrest as they tried to stop police from taking it, as they were left stranded that morning.

The city wants more than $4,700 in towing and storage fees if he wants the car back.

City officials declined to comment on the status of the family’s car and the Palacios case, while the undercover female officer involved in the arrest couldn’t be reached.

Political Stripper

2007-08-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

It has been revealed that a respected female town councillor in Bideford, Devon, has a rather unorthodox sideline - in her spare time she works as a stripper and sex chat line operator.

According to The Sun, Myrna Bushell, 38, has no plans to quit local politics or her steamy sidelines after hitting the headlines when three of her colleagues quit the council after learning of her alternative career.

Myrna is better known among certain sectors of the West Country as Jessica, The Devon Lady Kissogram, Strippogram & Stripper Entertainer.

"My kissogram acts are tasteful," she says. "I put shaving foam on my cleavage and rub my boobs in their face. Yes, I do take off all my clothes but it's only for a couple of minutes. Anyway, there is so much shaving foam that they can't see everything anyway."

She said her only bad experience was when a partygoer threw up all over her when he got a mouthful of foam.