Prostitution ring busted at US 'temple'
Tue Sep 13, 2011
US police has busted a prostitution ring operating at a temple under the guise of a center for religious services in the southwestern state of Arizona in the United States.
The center, called the Phoenix Goddess Temple, had been providing sexual services in exchange for money under the cover of religious healing, the state-run BBC reported Monday.
The police also arrested more than 30 people in connection with the case.
"The women were not called prostitutes, they were called goddesses," and they described the place not a prostitution house, but a “temple,” said Phoenix Police Sergeant Steve Martos.
The raid leading to the dismantling of the ring occurred in the northern city of Sedona, Arizona, after a six-month-long investigation into the suspicious activities of the “practitioners” who were conducting sexual acts in exchange for “donations.”
The founder of the Goddess Temple, Tracy Elise, who is among the detainees, has denied the charges leveled against her.
Elise was the target of a similar probe involving another prostitution ring in Seattle, Washington, in 2009.
.
Tue Sep 13, 2011
US police has busted a prostitution ring operating at a temple under the guise of a center for religious services in the southwestern state of Arizona in the United States.
The center, called the Phoenix Goddess Temple, had been providing sexual services in exchange for money under the cover of religious healing, the state-run BBC reported Monday.
The police also arrested more than 30 people in connection with the case.
"The women were not called prostitutes, they were called goddesses," and they described the place not a prostitution house, but a “temple,” said Phoenix Police Sergeant Steve Martos.
The raid leading to the dismantling of the ring occurred in the northern city of Sedona, Arizona, after a six-month-long investigation into the suspicious activities of the “practitioners” who were conducting sexual acts in exchange for “donations.”
The founder of the Goddess Temple, Tracy Elise, who is among the detainees, has denied the charges leveled against her.
Elise was the target of a similar probe involving another prostitution ring in Seattle, Washington, in 2009.
.