High-profile prostitution scandal hits New England town

A high-profile prostitution scandal featuring sex videos, adultery and exhibitionism in a small New England town drew to a close today when a Zumba fitness instructor was sentenced to 10 months in jail after telling the judge she was happy to have escaped her former life of crime.

Addressing the judge through tears, Alexis Wright said she felt relief when police raided her business in February 2012, because she wanted out. “In my eyes I’m free... from this,” she told the judge.

The 30-year-old Wright was sentenced under a plea agreement to 20 counts, including prostitution, conspiracy, tax evasion and theft by deception. Afterward, she was led from court to begin serving her sentence.

Wright, who is a single mother, was accused of conspiring with an insurance business owner to run a prostitution business in which she recorded videos of clients without their knowledge and kept detailed records over an 18-month period indicating she made $150,000 (£99,000) tax-free. Her business partner, Mark Strong, 57, was convicted of 13 counts related to promotion of prostitution.

AP