Escort case defendant loses lawyer

The legal worries for the owner of the Doll House escort service got worse Wednesday.

On the day Steven Santiago Maese was to stand trial on four counts of exploiting a prostitute and counts of pattern of unlawful activity and money laundering, defense attorney Ed Brass withdrew as counsel.

During a pretrial meeting in the chambers of Judge Randall Skanchy, Brass spoke with prosecutors and the judge about his reasons for withdrawing from the case on the eve of trial. Outside of court, Brass declined to talk about his reasons for stepping down as Maese's defense attorney.

However, in court, Skanchy ordered Maese to pay the costs incurred by the prosecution for bringing in witnesses.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office confirmed that two days earlier on April 21, Maese was arrested and booked on the charge of witness tampering.

Deputy Salt Lake County Attorney Chad Platt said charges are pending but would not talk about the reasons for Maese's arrest.

Platt said the prosecution was ready to move forward with the trial. Detectives were present ready to testify, and blown-up posters of the Doll House's Web site were also prepared.

A hearing has been set for next Monday to set a new trial date. Maese must now find another defense attorney who will have to take time to get up to speed with the case, which may lead to more delays in the case.

During a preliminary hearing last year, several women testified having worked for Maese and co-owner Tiffany French Curtis. The women testified they had appointments arranged and then collected an "agency fee," which was then turned over to Curtis or Maese.

One woman testified that she was told what behavior was allowed, which fell just short of sexual activity. On one appointment with an aggressive client, the woman said Maese told her to "work it out."

Another woman said tips were determined by stating a price and then telling the client "if you want to have more fun, it's more money." She also testified she had been raped by one client and although Maese and Curtis offered to call police, she declined.

A third woman did say she performed sexual activity because she needed the work.

Last February, Curtis was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading to two class A misdemeanors. That sentence was suspended and she was placed on 24 months probation.

In addition to the charges pending against him, Maese has been embroiled in another scandal, which has led to the firing of Deputy Salt Lake County Attorney Kent Morgan.

The Deseret News has reported that Morgan had a lot of phone contact with Maese, with 132 phone calls between them in a 21-month span. Several lengthy calls took place near Maese's court dates. They also spoke to each other several times the week after police executed a search warrant at the Doll House.

Both Maese and Morgan insist no case-sensitive information was revealed. Morgan says his termination by Salt Lake County Attorney Lohra Miller was political.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com