Police: ‘D.C. Madam’ found dead

[unhappycamper]

Police: ‘D.C. Madam’ found dead
Staff and wire reports
Posted : Thursday May 1, 2008 18:51:47 EDT

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — A woman thought to be the one convicted of running a high-end prostitution ring in Washington was found dead here Thursday of an apparent suicide, police said.

A body police think is 52-year-old Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found in a shed near her mother’s mobile home Thursday morning in Tarpon Springs, about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said in a statement that she left a suicide note, but they did not disclose its contents or how she killed herself.

Police did not immediately have additional comments when reached by telephone. Her attorney, Preston Burton, did not return a telephone call and e-mail message.

Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington’s political elite — including Sen. David Vitter, R-La. — and employed a Naval Academy instructor, Lt Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson, as a call girl.

Palfrey had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_palfrey_death_050108w/