The lawyer for two sexually oriented businesses says his clients were unfairly prosecuted to bolster the campaigns for two Salt Lake County district attorney candidates.
Attorney Andrew McCullough claims Lohra Miller and Sim Gill, city prosecutors for Cottonwood Heights and Salt Lake City, inappropriately directed their respective police forces to bust two sexually oriented businesses for no reason other than to grab headlines in a heated district attorney race. The first bust happened in February at a Salt Lake lingerie shop, while the other occurred a few days ago at a Cottonwood Heights escort service.
"The two city prosecutors that are running this thing seem to be looking for big time news items to look like they're tough," McCullough said. "Is it a coincidence? It might be."
McCullough doesn't hide his inherent conflict in this whole mess: His former partner Rob Latham is running as a Libertarian candidate for the county attorney position, and McCullough is on his campaign staff.
Both attorneys vehemently deny everything.
"My prosecution of this case has absolutely nothing to do with my candidacy," Miller said Friday. "It has to do with Cottonwood Heights hiring me to aggressively prosecute sexually oriented businesses that violate the law, and that's exactly what I'm doing."
Gill says he was just doing his job, as he has fought sexually-oriented crimes for the past 10 years .
"I started doing this in 1996. It's part of a systematic approach to our issues in the community," Gill said. "I'm not trying to grab headlines."
In February Salt Lake City police seized 700 suspected pornographic DVDs from Dr. John's Lingerie, 677 S. 200 West, with a warrant claiming the films violated state obscenity laws. The raid reeked of politics to McCullough, considering Salt Lake City's chief prosecutor, Gill, is running for Salt Lake County district attorney — especially considering most of the videos have since been returned, McCullough said.
Gill said the investigation is ongoing and charges are pending.
The raid that put Miller in the spotlight happened Wednesday as Cottonwood Heights police raided a local escort service with a warrant claiming the owner did not have a proper county sexually oriented business license, a class B misdemeanor. Miller, a contracted prosecutor for the city, was at the apartment during the raid, when Tiffany Cortis, 31, owner of the Utah Doll House, was arrested. A handful of local media also was there to record the arrest.
"This is an awful fuss for a class B misdemeanor," McCullough said.
The Utah Doll House reportedly has a license in Park City, but state law requires escort businesses to be licensed in each county in which they operate. McCullough said it's just a misunderstanding that will be cleared up in court.
Police found camera equipment, computers, cash, receipts and a handgun inside the apartment and seized the Utah Doll House's client list. McCullough said he filed an action in court against Cottonwood Heights Thursday to make sure the client list does not get out.
"If they are doing anything whatsoever to try and expose our customer list, we want it blocked and we want it blocked immediately," McCullough said.
Miller said the client list will not be released to anyone, as the list is evidence she plans on using in a criminal case against the owner of the Utah Doll House. Several cities have Miller on contract to prosecute crimes. Her law firm, Miller and Miller, contracts with Holladay, Taylorsville, West Jordan and Cottonwood Heights.
In related news, a blog posting on the Utah Doll House's Web site urges readers to call Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson and "let him know you don't think busting escorts in hotel rooms serves the people of this great community to the best of his and the police department's ability."
As of late Friday afternoon, not one person had called the mayor's office, said Patrick Thronson, the mayor's spokesman.
"The mayor believes that existing laws against escort services should be vigorously enforced, particularly since many women involved in escort services are exploited," Thronson said.
Contributing: Linda Thomson and Kersten Swinyard
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com