The Zumba Instructor whose prostitution scandal shook a quaint seaside town on the east coast, Alexis Wright, was released from prison yesterday after serving 6 months of her 10 months sentence. She was released early due to good behavior and her participation in a work program.
“I have no comment”, she said as she walked past reporters wearing a gray suit dress and carrying an armload of large envelopes. She was convicted for engaging in and promoting prostitution, as well as several welfare- and tax-related charges, according to the AP.
It’s amazing to think that only a year ago, the scandal fell upon the small town of Kennebunk, Maine near Kennebunkport, Maine. After complaints of groaning, loud music and a continuous stream of men in and out of the office she rented near to her Zumba studio, police began to watch her more closely. Soon it was discovered that her business partner, Mark Strong, watched several sexual encounters of Wright’s unsuspecting clients in real time from his office 100 miles away.
Strong, a 58-year-old married father of two, admitted to having an affair with Wright and said he helped her start her Zumba business, but insisted that he didn’t profit from the prostitution business. Wright, on the other hand, made $150,000, and collected more than $40,000 in welfare benefits. Strong was convicted of 13 counts related to promotion of prostitution and sentenced to only 20 days in jail.
Wright insisted that he had a bigger role than that. In a surprise move during her trial, she said that Strong had convinced her that she was an undercover agent, investigating allegations of sexual deviance. However, the court decided she was a willing participant.
The two co-conspirators kept a list of about 150 men that were clients of her protitution ring as a security measure, according to Reuters. The reason her sentence was longer than his, is because she also pleaded guilty to collecting public assistance illegally, not paying taxes on the cash her prostitution business brought in and illegally collecting unearned tax refunds.
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