How do you think some of them got so rich in the first place?
For years, Lisa Ann Taylor’s neighbors suspected something was going on behind the doors of her white-columned, million-dollar mansion in one of suburban Atlanta’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
Scantily clad women were seen posing for photos in the driveway. Cars and trucks came and went at all hours. And there were loud parties.
Despite repeated calls to police about the suspicious goings-on, there was no evidence of a crime. That is, until six weeks ago, when authorities were tipped off to a Web site showing Taylor — a former Penthouse Pet of the Month — sprawled topless on an ottoman and brazenly advertising services ranging from $300 one-hour photo shoots to “dream dates” that included a one-hour “show.”
Police raided the red-brick mansion Wednesday and found what they described as a high-class brothel and the headquarters of a call-girl ring whose customers received favors limited only by their imaginations and their ability to pay.
Among the services offered was sex with the centerfold and other women for an entire weekend for $10,000, District Attorney Danny Porter said.
“Whatever was asked for had a price,” Porter said.
[…]
Porter could not say for sure how long the illegal activity was going on, but neighbors have been complaining for at least three years.
Among other things, neighbors thought it was odd that all the basement windows were blacked out. Also, they saw lots of modest-looking cars and trucks that appeared out of place in the well-to-do neighborhood. In addition, scantily clad women were seen in the windows of Probert’s house in nearby Lawrenceville.
Taylor — a 1985 Penthouse centerfold who used the name Melissa Wolf professionally — also held lavish Halloween parties, which were advertised in fliers passed out through the neighborhood and included fireworks, costumed characters, professional decorations and a haunted house for children. But some parents declared the house off-limits for trick-or-treating.
“The neighbors told us they wouldn’t let their kids go to the house because they were afraid of who might answer the door,” the district attorney said.
[…]
Carol Northcutt, 49, who lives a block away, said many neighbors knew Taylor was in the adult entertainment industry. Northcutt said she once saw a photo shoot in Taylor’s driveway with scantily clad women posing in a convertible.
“I knew she was in adult films and that there were cars in and out,” she said. But prostitution? “Did I think for a minute it was that? No.”
Amazing. All those blindingly obvious signs, and some neighbors still had no idea that she was in the Oldest Profession? That makes me wonder if the rich are, among other things, not like the rest of us when it comes to common sense.
Well, Bina….you should know that not all adult performers do escort services, since they can make their money quite well with porn videos, their pay sites, feature dancing, and other gigs.
I actually got to see Ms. Taylor (performing under the name Melissa Wolf) do a multi-girl camshow; she didn’t catch me as anyone who would be running a brothel under the table. But, horniness combined with easy money can get the best of even the best.
Personally, I much prefer that such services be legal (or at least decriminalized). I don’t really see why it is considered such a big deal that warrants such a massive response. It’s not as if she was doing any harm to the neighbors.
But then again, we are talking about Georgia, the buckle of the Bible Belt…I guess that if Ms. Taylor was popping babies left and right for whatever church existed, then she would be praised for her “sacrifice”. Independent women controlling their own sexuality, while making a decent profit off it, seems to be a cosmic threat to some people, I guess.
Anthony
I’m not sure if horniness plays into it, Anthony–unless you’re talking about the guys paying for all that. The rates certainly sound high, which no doubt explains the choice of real estate. Quite pricey for a red light district, if you ask me.
My main thing here, though, was the cluelessness of the neighbors. Are rich people SO sheltered that they would have no inkling of what was really going, on even with all the obvious (to me, anyway) tip-offs? Or do they really think that prostitution is just for the bedraggled crack addicts on Skid Row? (Someone, please, give them a copy of Sidney Biddle Barrows’s tell-all bestseller.)
Or is it some kind of southern fried thang? In which case, that explains a lot. Up here, in the Great North, prostitution isn’t illegal, but soliciting is. Not sure what Georgia law says, but it’s a safe bet that it’s a lot stricter.
Funny how they never seem to find a way to tackle more pressing social problems, like poverty, social inequities and violent crime, but they do manage to scrape up the resources for a titillating high-profile bust like this. How much longer do you suppose the sheeple will fall for it before they catch on?