Prominent names top witness list in prostitution-ring case
Friday, September 10, 2004
By Crystal Harmon
TIMES WRITER
A lawyer defending a Kawkawlin couple against charges that they operated a prostitution ring plans to call a state senator, the Midland County Sheriff and two Bay City police officers - all alleged clients of the couple's entertainment company - to testify at trial.
Richard M. Lustig, the Birmingham attorney representing Maureen Hergenreder, last week filed his proposed defense witness list of 20 names with Bay County Circuit Judge Lawrence M. Bielawski.
Lustig said most of the witnesses are past clients of Amerisearch Productions who will help prove that the business, run by Maureen and her husband, Dan, from their Kawkawlin home, was a legal enterprise, providing a variety of entertainment services.
Dan Hergenreder, 33, and Maureen Hergenreder, 32, are being tried on three 20-year felony charges: racketeering, accepting the earnings of a prostitute and conducting a criminal enterprise via computer. They also face forfeiture of their home and life savings if convicted.
"We've subpoenaed all of these people because we have credit card information that indicates they used the service," Lustig said.
"What they will testify to is their actions with the enterprise. In some instances, we're not sure what happened. Some of them ... hired (Amerisearch) to provide disc jockeys for parties, and for other non-sexual purposes."
State Sen. James A. Barcia - whose name appears first on the witness list -- hired a disc jockey for a family wedding through Amerisearch, Lustig said.
Barcia said he helped pay for his stepson's wedding in 2002, but his wife, Vicki, paid the disc jockey by check from her own account. Barcia said he's unsure whether the family member who booked the disc jockey called Amerisearch for the booking.
Barcia said he hasn't yet received a subpoena ordering him to appear at the trial, has never met the Hergenreders and knows nothing about their business.
"They'll find that I'm not a very helpful witness, because I didn't even handle the arrangements," Barcia said.
Amerisearch is near the top of "disc jockey" listings in telephone directories. The company has provided disc jockeys for high school proms and other events, and also provided strippers, singing telegrams, oil-wrestlers, models, escorts and other entertainers.
Two Bay City Police officers hired a stripper through Amerisearch for a bachelor party at the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge in 2002, Lustig said, and those officers also will be called to testify in the Hergenreders' defense.
Bay City Police Chief Linda Collier said she was unaware that officers were being subpoenaed by the defense lawyers. She said she will look into the matter, even though no illegal activities by her officers are alleged, making any sanctions unlikely.
"The old moral clauses are pretty broadly interpreted these days, because its subjective," she said.
The Times was unable to reach the officers on the defense witness list for comment.
Midland County Sheriff John Reder also is listed as a witness, although Lustig said he was unsure what type of entertainment Reder may have arranged through Amerisearch. The Times was unable to reach Reder for comment.
Several local business owners, doctors, a reverend, a university instructor and others are also on the list of potential witnesses.
Lustig declined to give details on purported customer activities, saying only that some of the men on the list are "repeat customers," and that he'll be filing an amended witness list with additional names before the trial.
"We're not denying that the girls (who made appointments through Amerisearch) in some cases might have performed some type of sex act," Lustig said. "But we're not pimps. We provide an all-round service, and we're bringing in customers (for the trial) because the prosecution didn't (list any customers as witnesses).
"The purpose of the Internet business was not prostitution."
Lustig and Neil Rockind - Dan Hergenreder's defense lawyer - argue that the couple's business was legal: Matching entertainers with clients, via telephone and a Web site.
The Hergenreders would collect a finder's fee of up to $75 for each appearance they arranged, and the entertainers would collect up to $275 an hour, previous court testimony indicates.
The defense team hopes to convince a jury, at a trial set to start Sept. 21, that if anything illegal transpired at a bachelor party or private meeting, it was between the client and the entertainer, without knowledge or approval from the Hergenreders.
Two of the escorts who got gigs through Amerisearch, testifying at an evidence hearing in 2003, said they modeled, gave massages and danced - but never had sex with clients. They said they were required by the Hergenreders to sign a contract promising not to engage in sex for money during appointments.
Prosecutors, however, allege that the Hergenreders ran a lucrative prostitution ring, and were fully aware of the nature of the meetings they arranged. Notes seized from the Hergenreders' office on entertainers' menstrual cycles and clients' suspected venereal diseases are among the evidence prosecutors presented at last year's hearing.
The Hergenreders have rejected several plea bargain offers from the prosecution and demand a trial by jury. Judge Bielawski will conduct the trial of the Hergenreders simultaneously, although the jury will render separate verdicts for the two defendants.
Meanwhile, in a separate motion filed last week, Dan Hergenreder's attorney is seeking to have the whole case thrown out.
Rockind, of Farmington Hills, said in a motion to dismiss the charges that he's tried unsuccessfully for months to obtain copies of the information stored on the hard drives of three computers seized from the Hergenreders home at 1971 Eight Mile Road during the Sept. 12, 2002, raid by police.
Rockind claims in his motion that Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Richard I. Dresser on several occasions told him the requested information was ready to be picked up, only to decline to turn over the data.
The computers contain detailed business records, including information on clients and the entertainers they hired through Amerisearch.
Rockind says in his motion that Dresser finally has agreed to turn over the information, but with the trial date less than two weeks away, it's too late.
"The 11th hour attempt to provide the defendants with the information" isn't sufficient to make up for the impaired ability to prepare a proper defense, Rockind argues. The delay in obtaining the potentially exculpatory evidence has denied the Hergenreders due process.
"Dismissal of charges is proper sanction," Rockind wrote in his motion.
If the charges aren't dismissed, Rockind wants all evidence seized from the Hergenreders' home barred from being presented to the jury.
Bielawski is expected to rule on that and any other pretrial motions the day before the trial.
At the evidence hearing in District Court a year ago, prosecutors called an undercover female detective who had approached the Hergenreders about getting gigs through their company. The woman testified that Dan Hergenreder told her that she didn't have to perform sex acts with clients.
A male detective testified that he hired an escort through Amerisearch who came to a hotel room and performed a solo sex act at his request.
One escort who got work through Amerisearch testified that she modeled underwear and danced in bathing suits, but did not have sex with clients; another escort testified that she sometimes had sex with clients, despite signing a contract saying she would not.
While the criminal case moves forward, a civil case, in which prosecutors are attempting to seize the Hergenreders' home and money, is on hold. Police seized $11,000 in cash during the raid two years ago, placed a lien on the couple's home and frozen their bank accounts pending outcome of the criminal case.
Dan and Maureen Hergenreder have declined to comment on advice from their attorneys.
- Crystal Harmon covers Bay County courts for The Times. She may be reached at 894-9643.
Friday, September 10, 2004
By Crystal Harmon
TIMES WRITER
A lawyer defending a Kawkawlin couple against charges that they operated a prostitution ring plans to call a state senator, the Midland County Sheriff and two Bay City police officers - all alleged clients of the couple's entertainment company - to testify at trial.
Richard M. Lustig, the Birmingham attorney representing Maureen Hergenreder, last week filed his proposed defense witness list of 20 names with Bay County Circuit Judge Lawrence M. Bielawski.
Lustig said most of the witnesses are past clients of Amerisearch Productions who will help prove that the business, run by Maureen and her husband, Dan, from their Kawkawlin home, was a legal enterprise, providing a variety of entertainment services.
Dan Hergenreder, 33, and Maureen Hergenreder, 32, are being tried on three 20-year felony charges: racketeering, accepting the earnings of a prostitute and conducting a criminal enterprise via computer. They also face forfeiture of their home and life savings if convicted.
"We've subpoenaed all of these people because we have credit card information that indicates they used the service," Lustig said.
"What they will testify to is their actions with the enterprise. In some instances, we're not sure what happened. Some of them ... hired (Amerisearch) to provide disc jockeys for parties, and for other non-sexual purposes."
State Sen. James A. Barcia - whose name appears first on the witness list -- hired a disc jockey for a family wedding through Amerisearch, Lustig said.
Barcia said he helped pay for his stepson's wedding in 2002, but his wife, Vicki, paid the disc jockey by check from her own account. Barcia said he's unsure whether the family member who booked the disc jockey called Amerisearch for the booking.
Barcia said he hasn't yet received a subpoena ordering him to appear at the trial, has never met the Hergenreders and knows nothing about their business.
"They'll find that I'm not a very helpful witness, because I didn't even handle the arrangements," Barcia said.
Amerisearch is near the top of "disc jockey" listings in telephone directories. The company has provided disc jockeys for high school proms and other events, and also provided strippers, singing telegrams, oil-wrestlers, models, escorts and other entertainers.
Two Bay City Police officers hired a stripper through Amerisearch for a bachelor party at the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge in 2002, Lustig said, and those officers also will be called to testify in the Hergenreders' defense.
Bay City Police Chief Linda Collier said she was unaware that officers were being subpoenaed by the defense lawyers. She said she will look into the matter, even though no illegal activities by her officers are alleged, making any sanctions unlikely.
"The old moral clauses are pretty broadly interpreted these days, because its subjective," she said.
The Times was unable to reach the officers on the defense witness list for comment.
Midland County Sheriff John Reder also is listed as a witness, although Lustig said he was unsure what type of entertainment Reder may have arranged through Amerisearch. The Times was unable to reach Reder for comment.
Several local business owners, doctors, a reverend, a university instructor and others are also on the list of potential witnesses.
Lustig declined to give details on purported customer activities, saying only that some of the men on the list are "repeat customers," and that he'll be filing an amended witness list with additional names before the trial.
"We're not denying that the girls (who made appointments through Amerisearch) in some cases might have performed some type of sex act," Lustig said. "But we're not pimps. We provide an all-round service, and we're bringing in customers (for the trial) because the prosecution didn't (list any customers as witnesses).
"The purpose of the Internet business was not prostitution."
Lustig and Neil Rockind - Dan Hergenreder's defense lawyer - argue that the couple's business was legal: Matching entertainers with clients, via telephone and a Web site.
The Hergenreders would collect a finder's fee of up to $75 for each appearance they arranged, and the entertainers would collect up to $275 an hour, previous court testimony indicates.
The defense team hopes to convince a jury, at a trial set to start Sept. 21, that if anything illegal transpired at a bachelor party or private meeting, it was between the client and the entertainer, without knowledge or approval from the Hergenreders.
Two of the escorts who got gigs through Amerisearch, testifying at an evidence hearing in 2003, said they modeled, gave massages and danced - but never had sex with clients. They said they were required by the Hergenreders to sign a contract promising not to engage in sex for money during appointments.
Prosecutors, however, allege that the Hergenreders ran a lucrative prostitution ring, and were fully aware of the nature of the meetings they arranged. Notes seized from the Hergenreders' office on entertainers' menstrual cycles and clients' suspected venereal diseases are among the evidence prosecutors presented at last year's hearing.
The Hergenreders have rejected several plea bargain offers from the prosecution and demand a trial by jury. Judge Bielawski will conduct the trial of the Hergenreders simultaneously, although the jury will render separate verdicts for the two defendants.
Meanwhile, in a separate motion filed last week, Dan Hergenreder's attorney is seeking to have the whole case thrown out.
Rockind, of Farmington Hills, said in a motion to dismiss the charges that he's tried unsuccessfully for months to obtain copies of the information stored on the hard drives of three computers seized from the Hergenreders home at 1971 Eight Mile Road during the Sept. 12, 2002, raid by police.
Rockind claims in his motion that Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Richard I. Dresser on several occasions told him the requested information was ready to be picked up, only to decline to turn over the data.
The computers contain detailed business records, including information on clients and the entertainers they hired through Amerisearch.
Rockind says in his motion that Dresser finally has agreed to turn over the information, but with the trial date less than two weeks away, it's too late.
"The 11th hour attempt to provide the defendants with the information" isn't sufficient to make up for the impaired ability to prepare a proper defense, Rockind argues. The delay in obtaining the potentially exculpatory evidence has denied the Hergenreders due process.
"Dismissal of charges is proper sanction," Rockind wrote in his motion.
If the charges aren't dismissed, Rockind wants all evidence seized from the Hergenreders' home barred from being presented to the jury.
Bielawski is expected to rule on that and any other pretrial motions the day before the trial.
At the evidence hearing in District Court a year ago, prosecutors called an undercover female detective who had approached the Hergenreders about getting gigs through their company. The woman testified that Dan Hergenreder told her that she didn't have to perform sex acts with clients.
A male detective testified that he hired an escort through Amerisearch who came to a hotel room and performed a solo sex act at his request.
One escort who got work through Amerisearch testified that she modeled underwear and danced in bathing suits, but did not have sex with clients; another escort testified that she sometimes had sex with clients, despite signing a contract saying she would not.
While the criminal case moves forward, a civil case, in which prosecutors are attempting to seize the Hergenreders' home and money, is on hold. Police seized $11,000 in cash during the raid two years ago, placed a lien on the couple's home and frozen their bank accounts pending outcome of the criminal case.
Dan and Maureen Hergenreder have declined to comment on advice from their attorneys.
- Crystal Harmon covers Bay County courts for The Times. She may be reached at 894-9643.
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