http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=18567Russian Vice Ring Busted
The Associated Press
RIVERSIDE, California — Several Israeli and Russian nationals were arrested Tuesday when a prostitution ring that employed more than 240 women across several U.S. states and generated millions of dollars was broken up, authorities said Tuesday.
Boaz Benmoshe, 44, and Ofer Moses Lupovitz, 43, were among five people arrested last week and charged with felony pimping, pandering, perjury, loan fraud, money laundering, falsifying income tax returns and grand theft, Riverside County district attorney’s spokeswoman Ingrid Wyatt said.
Three other suspects facing the same charges were fugitives, she said.
Another two suspects, both women, were charged with grand theft and tax fraud in a separate complaint, Wyatt said.
The suspects operated Elite Entertainment, a business in Palm Springs, California, that posed as an escort service in online and newspaper advertisements, according to an affidavit filed by prosecutors. For at least three years, the business allegedly managed more than 80 phone lines on which clients across California, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona would call and request women.
The suspects would dispatch prostitutes who charged $200 to $2,000 for services, Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle said. They used the money to fraudulently secure loans for million-dollar homes in Coachella Valley, California, authorities alleged.
During a 2 1/2-year probe, undercover detectives ordered escorts who worked for Elite Entertainment to hotel rooms in several locations and arrested them after money was exchanged for the promise of sex.
Authorities also seized about 15 computers and $5 million in unspecified assets. Officials said the investigation was continuing and that more arrests were likely.
Arrested and in custody were Benmoshe; Lupovitz; Benmoshe’s wife, Melanie Ann Smith, 24; and Russian nationals Moti Vintrov, 33, and Eliran Vintrov, 28. Still at large were Moti Vintrov’s wife, Stephanie Vintrov, 23; Eliran Vintrov’s girlfriend, Candis Lynn Castro, 25; and Gabrell Marie Lukow, 26. Tiffany Welsh, 22, and Rebecca Luna, 25, both secretaries who worked at the ring’s administrative offices, posted bail, Wyatt said.
Bail amounts were set from $25,000 to $1.5 million, according to court records.
