Saturday, 29 March 2008

Dinner date, which could be pur­chased for $150, to a 24-hour date that cost customers $1,500. Oth­er services offered include bond­age

Two local women were ar­rested Tuesday night on misde­meanor sex charges after the pair reportedly offered to "put on a show" for a bachelor party that turned out to be a police sting operation.Prattville Police Chief Alfred Wadsworth confirmed Thurs­day that Dawn Renee Williams and Ashley Lynn Whitesell, both 33-year-old Prattville resi­dents, are each charged with one count of promotion of pros­titution in the third degree. The charge is a misdemeanor, and the women, both of whom are married, were each released on a $500 appearance bond.
Williams, known as "Dixie" on the pair's Web site, and Whitesell, who goes by the name "Darlin'," maintained a site that included racy pictures of them­selves, along with a list of serv­ices and prices.
The services ranged from a dinner date, which could be pur­chased for $150, to a 24-hour date that cost customers $1,500. Oth­er services offered include bond­age, couples action and "nude housekeeping." According to the Web site, Williams even of­fered to travel anywhere in the U.S. or overseas, for a fee of $5,500.
The price list included a chart for converting the U.S. dol­lar amounts to the Euro, British pounds, Canadian and Austral­ian dollars and Japanese yen.
Posted on the site were state­ments such as, "I love what I do and would like to show you that I do," and, "I am a lady and ex­pect to be treated that way."
The duo also advertised that they were available for bachelor parties, birthday parties or pri­vate parties. That's what ulti­mately led to their arrests.
According to Wadsworth, his department began an investiga­tion into the pair's activities aft­er several citizens notified the mayor's office of the online so­licitations. Police set up a fake bachelor party, then arrested the women when they showed up to fulfill the promises they made on their Web site.
"Some citizens called the mayor's office to complain about the Web site, and he noti­fied us," the police chief said. "Our officers selected the bache­lor party (which came with a cost of $300, plus tips) and booked a room in a local motel. The women were arrested after they arrived at the motel."
Police and local prosecutors then searched the Williams resi­dence and seized several pieces of evidence, including a home computer and a client list that included the names and phone numbers of several men in the River Region, including "a few" from Prattville, Wadsworth said.
"We're not releasing the names of the clients, because there isn't any crime we can charge them with," he said. "At this point, the only name I can tell you that is not on there, is former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer."
He said police are continuing their investigation into the on­line operation, and speculated that other charges could evolve from that investigation.
"Our Computer Forensics Unit will evaluate her computer and see if there were any other violations of the law," he said.
The police chief said realiza­tion that such an enterprise was being conducted in the Fountain City caught him a little un­aware. He added that police acted promptly to bust the oper­ation in order to show that such criminal activity would not be tolerated within the city limits of Prattville.
"In the past, we've had some women from Montgomery who rented motel rooms here and did this type of thing," he said. "But it was really surprising to be no­tified that this business was op­erating so much in the open, in our city. We hope these arrests will deter other people from doing this type of thing here, and will cause the people who utilize these services to go some­where else."

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