House's Tawdry Past Doesn't Deter An Eager Bevy Of Bidders In Oregon

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - It is a home purchased with ill-gotten gains. But none of the bidders seemed too concerned.

"It's no different from saying a ghost lived there," Juventino Lara said.

In this case, a very friendly ghost. Former owner Darla West was a prostitute who earned $160 an hour working for an escort service.

It took just 20 minutes recently for the Internal Revenue Service to sell the house on a four-acre lot on Running Springs Drive. The winning bidder: Springfield Fire Chief Dennis Murphy at $239,000.

West pleaded guilty last June to promoting prostitution, tax fraud and using interstate transportation in the aid of a racketeering enterprise. Under terms of her plea bargain, West promised to cooperate with a federal investigation of a Virginia Beach, Va., escort service that operated in 60 cities.

West also had to forfeit her house east of Springfield, which she bought in November 1996 for $269,000.

About two dozen bidders showed up for the auction. Most of them thought West's ownership was interesting but not a deterrent.

Actually, police say West did most of her business in customers' homes or motel rooms.

Still, people touring the house couldn't help but pause and study the heavy wooden, mirrored waterbed frame in the master bedroom.

Auctioneer Frank Gross of Hermiston, Ore., said his only concern was taking the bid as high as possible.

The two-story, 2,200-square-foot home has a vaulted ceiling and a sweeping roof line that juts into the air. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a wrap-around deck with space cut out for a hot tub.

Auctions of forfeited property in Oregon are rare. Only five have been held in the past five years, said Tim Minoughan, a sales manager for EG&G Services of New Jersey, which disposes of seized homes, cars, boats, planes and other property seized by the IRS and other federal agencies.

Money from the sale will be turned over to the U.S. Treasury.

The story behind West's home, Minoughan said, is "very interesting."

West first came to police attention in May 1996, when she reported that a suitcase containing $100,000 in cash had been stolen from the back of her car while she was buying flowers at a Springfield supermarket.

Police soon arrested a couple and recovered most of the money, but the large amount of cash caught the eye of IRS investigators.

Detectives learned West worked for an escort service called Aaran's and went by the name of "Miss Dee Dee."

Local calls to Aaran's were automatically forwarded to a business in Virginia Beach, Va., called Key West Entertainment. Employees there took the customer's name, location and telephone number and relayed the information to West.

Police said West entertained an average of three customers a night when she worked. Some were visitors from out of town, but others were men, women and couples from the Eugene and Springfield areas.

Federal authorities used information gained in the West investigation to pursue a case against Key West Entertainment. West faced up to 9 1/2 years in prison if she did not cooperate. Details of her cooperation were not known, but she is not in prison.