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Lawyer: Military women worked for Palfrey

Several military personnel have worked as independent contractors for a California woman who federal prosecutors say ran a prostitution ring in the Washington, D.C., area for more than 13 years, according to the woman’s lawyer. A Naval Academy instructor was among those working for the “D.C. madam,” Montgomery Blair Sibley said.

Sibley refused to provide specific information about service members he claims worked for Deborah Jeane Palfrey, a California woman indicted on racketeering and money laundering charges after federal prosecutors said she ran Pamela Martin and Associates from her Vallejo home for 13 years.

Palfrey hired Sibley, a civil lawyer based in the Washington suburb of Rockville, Md., after she fired her court-appointed public defender because of “irreconcilable differences.”

Prosecutors say Palfrey, 50, managed 132 prostitutes by telephone from her California home, directing them to appointments with clients and then requiring them to forward half of the fees to a post office box using money orders.

The indictment says the firm brought in more than $2 million.

The case drew national attention when Palfrey threatened to sell telephone records of calls between thousands of clients and the firm to pay defense lawyers after prosecutors moved to seize her bank accounts.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered Palfrey not to sell the telephone records, but Palfrey gave them to ABC News, which plans to air a report on the case Friday on the news show “20/20.”

There appear to be military connections to the case. Sibley estimated that hundreds of military personnel have hired women from the firm, noting that “very many” calls placed to the firm were traced to the Pentagon or to a nearby Ritz Carlton hotel at Pentagon City Mall.

“That’s a statistical certainty,” he said.

Sibley confirmed Wednesday that at least one Naval Academy instructor has worked for the firm, but on the instructions of Palfrey refused to name the woman or specify whether she was a military officer.

Palfrey “does not want this woman hurt,” he said. “This particular woman will be devastated in her professional and personal life if her identity is made known.”

Sibley said that Palfrey did not want to embarrass the woman or any military or civilian officials, but contends she was left with no other option. “We spent six months trying to resolve this so nobody gets hurt,” he said.

“It is a bad situation that the government has caused. If these charges were to go away, both Deborah Jeane and the records could go away tomorrow.”

Discussion

The D.C. Madam