Escort service accused of pushing prostitution

The owners of an escort service operated out of an apartment in a Cottonwood Heights neighborhood were charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court after former employees say they were told to have sex with paying customers.

Steven Santiago Maese and Tiffany French Curtis were charged with money laundering, a second-degree felony, exhibiting a pattern of unlawful activity and four counts of exploitation of prostitution, all third-degree felonies.

"Basically there's a pattern here," said Salt Lake Deputy District Attorney Bob Stott. "We're alleging they managed a prostitution business."

Maese and Curtis were summoned to appear in court today for an arraignment.

It's the latest series of charges in an ongoing investigation into the Doll House, near 7600 South and 2200 East. The escort service has been the target of multiple police raids and various citations, most recently involving one for failure to obtain a proper license to operate a sexually oriented business in Salt Lake County.

The Doll House has a sexually oriented business license for Summit County but not for Salt Lake County, according to documents.

That charge was dismissed last week however, for the second time. A similar charge was dismissed in 2005.

Maese, 29, and Curtis, 32, knew about and encouraged female employees to provide sex to customers who requested such services, according to documents. Former employees say they were given such statements as "make it work" and "work something out" when given an offer for sex and were punished by receiving fewer referrals when they declined, according to court documents.

Employees also told police they were told to "tip the phone girl," who was Curtis on most occasions, at least 20 percent in order to keep getting appointments scheduled by her. Those tips often ended up being more than $200 per appointment.

Officers have since seized various items of evidence from the apartment, including lists of customer and escort names and transaction notices as well as other documentation indicating specific sexual acts Doll House escorts have performed, according to court documents.

Court documents indicate the alleged activities occurred between July 2004 and April of this year.

Stott Thursday said he did not know if the escort service was closed. He said his office was not involved in shutting them down, only prosecuting the charges brought before them.

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Contributing: Pat Reavy

E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com