Suburban brothel suspect plans strip club trip to pay legal bills

Associated Press

A former Penthouse centerfold accused of running a brothel out of a mansion in an exclusive suburban Atlanta neighborhood is planning appearances at strip clubs in Detroit and Canada to help pay her legal bills.

Lisa Ann Taylor, 42, was arrested last week along with Nicole A. Probert, 30, on prostitution, racketeering and drug charges.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter says Taylor and Probert were operating a call-girl service, offering sex with clients for as much as $10,000. The women also are accused of procuring drugs for their clients and friends. Both Taylor's and Probert's lawyers deny the charges.

Taylor, who is also known by her professional name, Melissa Wolf, said she is looking forward "to working so I can pay my attorney and pay my bills."

Next week, she will appear at the Toy Chest in Detroit and at Cheetah's of Windsor, Ontario, said Renaldo Agostino, marketing director for Katzman Enterprises, which owns both adult clubs.

Taylor will perform and give private dances in VIP rooms, which Agostino said will be much less expensive than $10,000.

He said the media attention about her case "definitely caught our attention, but she's always had a good fan base here. She's a really nice girl."

Porter said the trip is legal because staying in Georgia is not a condition of her bond.

Taylor's attorney, Max Richardson, said the case has drawn undue attention from both the prosecutor and the media.

"She has been placed under a microscope like she killed someone," Richardson said.

Taylor earns a living as a professional dancer, Richardson said, adding that she was not as well paid as the district attorney claims.

Police seized Taylor's Corvette and her truck when they arrested her Jan. 3. And the district attorney has placed a lien on her million-dollar mansion, with an eye toward seizing it if she is convicted on racketeering charges.

Taylor said some of her neighbors have offered signs of support and that she has been getting fan mail since news of her arrest broke.

"I'm holding up, with help from Victoria's Secret," Taylor joked.

She said she also still plans to attend church on Sundays. But she would not say which church she attends, saying she did not want to bring the church into the media spotlight.

"I'm already scared that I'm going to burn the (church) doors down," she said.

Probert - who used the stage name Naughty Nikki - is also having a hard time, said her attorney, Steven Sadow.

"She is back at home, getting better, getting stronger each day as the initial stress dissipates," Sadow said Thursday. "It's more of the stress of being arrested, having your house searched, being unfairly and inaccurately portrayed as a prostitute."

Taylor's attorney Max Richardson was not immediately available for comment.

Sadow described Probert's business activities, such as appearing in adult videos or dancing in public or for private customers, as an "entirely legal" expression protected by the First Amendment.

Probert, a former commercial real estate agent, began working on-and-off in the adult industry about two years ago, Sadow said.

Meanwhile, police and prosecutors have been going through records seized after the arrest, looking for evidence to make more arrests and to bolster their case.

Both women are free on bail and Porter said he expects to bring them before a grand jury sometime within the next 30 to 45 days.

Gwinnett County police obtained as many as four new arrest warrants Tuesday evening connected to the prostitution case, Porter said. The warrants are for charges related to drugs and pandering, he said. Police said the charges are misdemeanors.

In addition to the warrants issued Tuesday, the district attorney's office expects to make at least four more arrests of customers later, Porter said.

The women's customers have been described by Porter as doctors, lawyers and businessmen.

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Prosecutor to pursue brothel's clients

Harry R. Weber

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prosecutors plan to go to a grand jury with their case against two women accused of running a brothel out of a mansion in an exclusive suburban neighborhood -- a case that Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter says might lead to charges against the brothel's upscale clients.
Mr. Porter said Monday that he will seek indictments against former Penthouse centerfold Lisa Ann Taylor and her co-defendant, Nicole A. Probert, in the next 30 to 45 days.
Additional arrests are expected, Mr. Porter said. Anyone found to have paid the women for sex could be charged with soliciting an act of prostitution, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, Mr. Porter said.
"Basically, what we're going to do is create a list of customers from the records seized in the course of the search warrant," Mr. Porter said.
The prosecutor said the brothel's customers included doctors, lawyers and businessmen, but none has been named publicly.
"If we can develop enough evidence, people will be arrested and that will be part of the public record," Mr. Porter said.
Miss Taylor -- a 1985 Penthouse centerfold who used the name Melissa Wolf professionally -- and her friends are accused of using their Web site to offer their services during visits to Boston, New York, Chicago and suburban Milwaukee.
Police raided Miss Taylor's red-brick mansion last week and said they found 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.
The mansion is near the ninth hole at Sugarloaf Country Club, home of the PGA's BellSouth Classic each May. It is in a gated neighborhood, about 20 miles from Atlanta, whose current or former residents include Atlanta celebrities, sports figures and business executives.
Miss Taylor, 42, and her reputed business partner Miss Probert, 30, face charges of prostitution, racketeering and conspiracy to possess cocaine.
Miss Probert's attorney, David Fuller, has denied that his client was involved in prostitution.

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Accused Prostitute (Lisa Ann Taylor) Speaks To Channel 2

Four new arrest warrants have been issued in the case involving two women accused of “high-end” prostitution -- in one of the area’s most exclusive neighborhoods.

The woman at the center of a prostitution bust that’s rocked one of the metro area’s most prestigious neighborhoods spoke only to Channel 2.

“Right now I’m confident that these issues will be resolved and that the truth will come out,” said Taylor after meeting with her attorney, Max Richardson, Wednesday afternoon.

“Actually, I’ve had a lot of support from the community, a lot of places where I go, they’ve all been very supportive, my fans have been supportive. I’ve had fans from where I used to dance, going back as far as Peoria, Illinois even, sending me an e-mail saying, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening to you,’ and wishing me good luck,” said Taylor. “Like I said, everybody has been supportive -- I’ve had lots of my friends from the church calling me and telling me that they’re praying for me.”

“She’s come up through hard times as a kid and she’s persevered that and she’s worked hard. And like everybody, she’s not perfect, she’s made mistakes, just like you and I have made mistakes. Whoever’s without sin should throw the first stone,” said Richardson.

Taylor has also told us she is going on with her life as usual.

Taylor hired her attorney Wednesday morning as four arrest warrants were issued in the case. Taylor and 30-year-old Nicole Probert are charged with prostitution and racketeering.

District Attorney Danny Porter told Channel 2’s Rachel Kim the warrants are for two clients and two people who distributed drugs. And he says he’s had a closer look at that list of customers the women kept -- customers who in some cases – allegedly spent thousands of dollars for sex at Taylor’s lavish home in the Sugar Loaf Country Club neighborhood.

Porter told Channel 2 the list includes doctors and lawyers and businessman from out of state.

The attorney for Nicole Probert – the other woman charged in the case – says that his client will plead not guilty and is looking forward to proving her case in court.

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