Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990 TAG: 9005140038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT WAYNE, IND. LENGTH: Medium
The ring was organized by James William Dayton, a computer scientist at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis who died of a heart attack March 16, Marion County Prosecutor Steve Goldsmith told The Journal-Gazette.
At least 50 prostitutes and 300 patrons are involved, police estimate. No arrests have been made.
The ring's clients and prostitutes included Indianapolis banking executives, a Cincinnati priest and a Marion County police officer, the paper reported Sunday.
Investigators found addresses of men, apparently clients of the ring, in 39 states, including Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The network also drew clients and prostitutes from two Canadian provinces, South Korea and Guam, investigators said.
Goldsmith called it the largest prostitution ring he has seen, adding, "there are so many names. It's so voluminous."
An FBI agent who answered the phone in the agency's Indianapolis office Sunday said the FBI has a policy against commenting on whether it is involved in investigations.
Police had suspected Dayton, 44, of being involved in illegal sexual behavior as early as 1981 and had begun investigating an alleged prostitution ring in 1985, but met with dead-ends.
"It was extremely difficult to infiltrate. . . . It had built-in barriers that prevented undercover officers from infiltrating the system," said Indianapolis Police spokesman Andrew Stoner.
It was Dayton's death that allowed the case to be cracked, Stoner said.
Dayton died in a Tiffin, Ohio, bed and breakfast after having sex with a man who wanted to join the network as a prostitute, police said.
by CNB