Date: Fri 10-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Holland-prostitution

Full Text:

Court Document Details Investigation That Led To Local Prostitution Arrest

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Documents filed at Danbury Superior Court detail the police investigation

which led to the recent arrest of a Newtown man on charges of promoting

prostitution in the second-degree and racketeering.

Before Louis Holland, a/k/a Buddy Holland, a/k/a Joe Leone, 38, of 38 Little

Brook Lane, surrendered to police June 15, police sought and received three

court search-and-seizure warrants and an arrest warrant.

In a court appearance July 2, Holland pleaded not guilty to both charges. He

is scheduled to return to court July 24. Holland is represented by attorney

Mark Balaban of Middletown.

Promoting prostitution in the second-degree is a Class C felony under the

state penal code. In such a situation, the accused either knowingly advances

or profits from prostitution and/or manages, supervises, controls or owns a

business or enterprise involving prostitution by two or more prostitutes.

Racketeering involves systematically illegally obtaining money through illicit

means.

According to an arrest warrant application affidavit filed by Newtown police

Detective Jeff Kovic, last November, a credible person who is a confidential

informant contacted the police department's special investigations unit and

told police that Bunny's, an escort and massage service run by Holland from a

basement office in his home, was in the business of promoting prostitution and

was involved in money laundering through the use of credit card charge slips.

The informant told police of the inner workings of the escort service,

according to the affidavit.

The affidavit describes Bunny's as "primarily a front for prostitution and

financial gain."

The informant had worked for Holland for nine months in 1997, first as an

escort and later as a manager, according to the court papers. The informant

took telephone calls from people seeking escorts, interviewed women seeking

work as escorts, and scheduled women to work as escorts and masseuses, it

adds.

Holland had up to 12 women working for him and he expected them to trade sex

for money, either in the form of cash or credit card billings, the affidavit

alleges.

Sexual services provided would cost $250 an hour in cash, of which Holland got

$100, the affidavit states. The same services would cost up to $300 in credit

card billings, depending on the type of credit card used, it adds. Holland

received 40 percent or more of that amount, it states.

Customers would call the escort service by telephone after which Holland would

dispatch the escorts via paging devices, according to the affidavit. The

escorts would go to a specified location and perform their services, according

to the document.

Holland had six telephone lines, including two toll-free lines, in use at his

home listed under five different business names, according to information

provided by the confidential informant to Det Kovic. The telephone system had

caller ID and call forwarding capabilities.

According to the affidavit, Holland used a credit card machine at a local

business to launder some of the fees paid by Bunny's customers. Some credit

card slips were prepared to make it appear that Bunny's customers had

purchased goods at the local business, it states. Such an arrangement would

leave no "paper trail" of evidence linked to Holland, according to the

affidavit.

Profits that Holland made through Bunny's were placed in bank accounts and

used to purchase precious metals, the document alleges.

During the nine months in 1997 during which the informant worked for Holland,

Holland made more than $60,000, representing about one-third of what the

escorts grossed, according to the informant.

Late last year, detectives Robert Tvardzik and Richard Stook sought and

received three search-and-seizure warrants from a judge at Danbury Superior

Court to search for and seize evidence from Holland's house, from his 1983

Cadillac, and from the local business he allegedly used for some money

laundering.

The search warrants were simultaneously executed at Holland's home and the

business, and later executed on his Cadillac.

Newtown police, state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

participated. There was no resistance to the actions.

At Holland's home, police seized business items, adult entertainment industry

items, silver bars, and 21 firearms including pistols, shotguns and rifles.

To corroborate the informant's information, police interviewed several women

who had worked for Holland. They provided graphic details on how the operation

functioned.

According to the Connecticut Bureau of Investigation, in November 1994 Holland

was charged with promoting prostitution in the second-degree and unemployment

fraud. In October 1995, Holland was convicted on the charges, and fined

$10,000. He received a three-year suspended prison term and was placed on

three years probation which expires on October 24 this year.

The informant told police Holland had continued running a prostitution

operation after his 1994 arrest.

Law enforcement officials created a protective apparatus for the informant,

realizing that the contents of the affidavits would make the informant's

identity obvious to Holland after the affidavits were disclosed.

Newtown police have said the investigation into Bunny's is continuing and may

result in additional charges.