Madams Fall While Their Johns Prosper
Madams Fall While Their Johns Prosper
D.C. Madam’s Suicide Shows Great Discrepancy Between Men and Women When It Comes to How Prostitution Is Punished
Yesterday’s suicide of so-called D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has again shown the great discrepancy between men and women when it comes to how the crime of prostitution is punished.
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Palfrey, who was to be sentenced in July on federal charges stemming from operating a prostitution service, was found dead yesterday in a shed outside a mobile home owned by her mother. Police say she hanged herself with a nylon rope. Meanwhile, some of her best-known male clients continue to hold powerful and highly paid jobs and have not faced criminal charges.
Ambassador Randall Tobias, who resigned from the State Department after admitting he had been a customer of Palfrey’s service, recently accepted a high-profile job as the head of the Indianapolis Airport Authority.
In April 2007, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called Palfrey’s “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been no sex, and that he had since been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.
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