admin @ Tue, 2005-10-25 09:46
WATERVILLE -- An exotic-rubdown parlor on Main Street downtown is losing business because of publicity surrounding recent arrests in the city for prostitution, according to its owner.
Gentleman's Choice, located at 90 Main St., had 16 women working there before the crackdown and now there are only nine, owner Fred Horne says. And fewer people are coming in for rubdowns, he said.
"A big part of our clientele are businessmen and professionals," Horne said in an interview at Gentleman's Choice. "We have clients who are 18 to 85. I have a couple of World War II veterans who come in here."
However, police say investigations into rubdown parlors and escort services were prompted by complaints from people that Gentleman's Choice recently moved from College Avenue to a more visible place downtown. Police Chief John E. Morris said people are concerned about the effect such businesses have on the downtown's image.
"The downtown appears to be in a renaissance," Morris said. "Legitimate, wholesome businesses are moving into the downtown area, and I and the downtown merchants don't want to see that renaissance interrupted by any business that is involved in criminal activity."
Shannon Haines, executive director of Waterville Main Street, an organization dedicated to downtown revitalization, said merchants and property owners have expressed concerns about massage parlors and escort services locating on Main Street.
"We certainly aren't trying to attract those kind of businesses to downtown," she said. "The businesses we are trying to attract to our upper-floor spaces would be reputable office-type businesses, creative businesses who would employ a few people who could then shop and dine in downtown."
He says no prostitution or inappropriate activity takes place at his business, located over CVS pharmacy. The women who work at Gentleman's Choice are independent contractors who rent the rubdown rooms and pay him a percentage of the money they make, he said.
But on Oct. 6, police arrested Sarah Overlock, who worked at Gentleman's Choice and took an "outcall" from an undercover police officer, went to a local hotel with a driver, Glen Hines, and negotiated a sex act for money, according to police.
In a separate incident Oct. 6, another woman working on her own as an escort was arrested. Then on Oct. 12, police arrested a couple on King Street for allegedly engaging in and promoting prostitution.
Horne says he had no idea Overlock might be engaging in prostitution and had he known, he would have fired her. And he said Hines was just doing him a favor by driving the woman to the hotel -- and that he does not work for him (Horne) and received no pay for the work.
"The girl -- I don't have any pity for," Horne said. "What she did was wrong."
Leading a tour of his business recently, Horne said he has told police they can come in any time if they want to look around.
Clients entering the parlor walk up a long staircase into a large lobby with high ceilings and freshly painted pink walls with white trim. A chair sits beside a small table on which there is a vase of large yellow roses and one red one.
In the small, dimly lit office, women lounge on a couch, and one sits at the desk. A sign displays half-hour specials: topless, $40; G-string, $60; nude, $80; erotic show, $100. Hourly specials are: topless, $60; G-string, $80; nude, $100; erotic show, $120. Tipping may not exceed $100 per half-hour and $120 per hour, the sign says.
The women pay a rental fee of $10 per half-hour and $20 an hour, as well as a facility fee of $10 a day, according to Horne. The average worker stays 11Ú2 to 2 years, he said.
Off the lobby are four rooms designated as the Tropical Room, NASCAR Room, Motorcycle Room and Oriental Room. There are pictures on the walls, a rubdown table in the middle of each room, a boom box, lotions, towels, washcloths, and peppermints in a bowl. A client coming in gets to choose the woman he wants.
Women give their clients a rubdown -- of their backs, legs and arms, feet and temples, but not private parts, according to Horne.
"It's a body rub," Horne said. "It can't be considered a massage because they're not licensed massage therapists or masseuses. It's just a rubdown -- it's more entertainment than anything else, but some of the girls really do give good back rubs. They're not allowed to touch the buttocks. Sometimes they do the chest, depending on what the guy wants."
He said sometimes the women do lap dances on the men and some women dance in the room, but usually dancing is done at bachelor parties.
"There's conversations -- some girls are into sports, some girls are into snowmobiling, some girls are into fishing or hunting."
Horne says every woman who comes to work at Gentleman's Choice is told that no prostitution is allowed.
"I won't lie; I've had to fire girls. I've had clients come right out and tell me, 'This girl did this.' I tell the girls I've got friends who come in and take appointments just to make sure nothing's going on."
"We have had women come in, to be honest with you," he said. "I've had a couple of men that work by appointment only."
The business is open 9 a.m. to midnight. The women who work there are just trying to make a living, Horne maintains. He said he knows such places are often watched for drug activity, and he is totally against drugs.
"When a girl comes in to work for me, I check her arms (for needle tracks) because it is such a common occurrence," he said.
Horne, 38, said he got into the business because his ex-wife was a dancer. A Maine native, he grew up in Meriden, Conn., then returned to Maine and graduated from Gardiner High School in 1985. He has two children.
Three women were waiting in the office on a recent Wednesday for clients to call or come in. The women are 19, 20 and 29 years old and all are single parents who do not use their real names with their clients, they said.
They confirmed Horne's description of the services they provide, but two asked not to be identified because they have children and family members, and in some cases other jobs where their employers would fire them if they knew they worked at a rubdown parlor, they said.
"A lot of the girls live a double life doing what they do," Horne said. "They don't want to give their real names. They have kids -- and mothers and fathers that know what they do that really aren't happy with it but they're supporting themselves so they have to accept it."
He said the women work in a variety of other jobs, including in the medical field and for store chains.
One woman said she had a child at 13; another said she had her child at 16; and one woman said she was 17 when she gave birth.
The 20-year-old said her child's father is in jail and does not help financially.
All swear they do not engage in prostitution -- which they call "full-service" -- and say if they did, they know they would be fired.
They learned how to do exotic rubdowns and dancing from more experienced women who work there, they said. Horne said workers have ranged in age from 18 to 54.
Two young men who looked like college students came up the stairs, asking if the parlor was open. Horne quickly approached them to escort them in.
The number of newspaper advertisements for exotic rubdowns and escort services has decreased since the arrests. Arthur Richard, owner of Relaxalon, which has been in business nearly 11 years and also is located downtown, said his business has always been moderate, so he has not noticed a real decline in customers of late.
"I don't do full-service -- I never have," Richard said Friday. "I haven't lost any workers. They're not worried about it because they don't do anything wrong."
A woman who answered the phone at Exotic Touch recently and asked not to be named said no employees have left, but there has been a small decline in business.
"But really not much at all," she said. "I believe that's because we're a 100 percent legal facility and our clients know that. The business we have lost is pretty much local business. Locals, with all the increased attention, just don't want to be seen here."
"Most of the girls here work at other jobs or they're college students, and a lot of them have families to take care of."
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