Prostitution Kingpin Found Guilty

A Seattle man who built an escort empire was found guilty in federal court yesterday of 50 counts of racketeering, money laundering and credit-card fraud.

But still secret is his confidential list of the 8,700 customers who made him a very wealthy man.

Robert M. Bennett's list is part of the meticulous computer accounts he maintained during the years he operated two Seattle-area escort businesses under the names "Personality Services" and "Elite Entertainment."

Authorities said the businesses were covers for prostitution.

Bennett, 38, is believed to have made millions of dollars between 1981 and 1992 dispatching "escorts" to homes and hot-tub parlors. His database recorded some 36,000 transactions, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Angelo Calfo.

Calfo said Bennett guarded the database with a high security system away from the place where he conducted business.

Those records were not made public during his seven-day trial, which ended Wednesday.

But Calfo said that a substantial number of patrons on the lists were from the Seattle area.

Calfo said there could be charges filed against Bennett's customers.

Police declined to disclose details but said more information about the case could be released next week.

Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Christie-Lynne Bonner questioned the feasibility of pressing charges based on database records.

"How do we tie that list of names to specific criminal acts?" Bonner asked.

Yesterday's verdict in U.S. District Judge William Dwyer's courtroom drew to a close a difficult investigation that began about 10 years ago when the Seattle Police Department first began looking into Bennett's operations.

He had pleaded not guilty last March to the federal charges after being arrested by federal agents from California.

Calfo said authorities tracked Bennett to California by tracing records of telephone calls placed from pay phones in Los Angeles to Bennett's former business associates here.

Prosecutors said Bennett had fled Seattle last fall after being indicted by a grand jury. He had taken the alias "Robert Mariposa," and was working at a warehouse in the Los Angeles area, investigators said.

Authorities said database records, which included names of customers, also called "johns," were seized by police in late October 1992 during 13 raids in one weekend of homes, cars and businesses tied to the escort services.

No sentencing date has been set, but Calfo said a date would likely be set within 60 days. If the judge adheres to sentencing guidelines, Bennett could be sentenced to a maximum of 570 years in prison.

Bennett remains in the King County Jail, where he has been in custody since March.

In a second phase of the trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday, the U.S. government will try to seize about $1.3 million from Bennett.

Calfo said his assets include various bank accounts, and seven pieces of residential property in West Seattle, Ballard, North Seattle and on Queen Anne Hill.

Those properties now are in the custody of the U.S. Marshal. Calfo said some properties are still being rented to tenants.