Police use courts to disconnect escort services

After requests from vice detectives, at least three Davidson County judges ordered BellSouth to disconnect 106 telephone lines used by area escort services. The crackdown began late last year and will be announced Friday by police officials.

“I think it’s huge,” police Sgt. Rob Forrest told The Tennessean. “Basically, what we’re doing is taking each prong of the prostitution out of Nashville. The massage parlors — that’s gone. The ones operating out of hotels — we’re taking those out.”

The judges’ orders were based on state rules under which telephone companies can provide service approved by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. The rule states that phone service can be disconnected if used for an unlawful act.

The telephone strategy is the latest in a long-standing effort to dent prostitution-related businesses in the Nashville area. Previously, authorities have used state nuisance statutes to padlock 32 businesses, including motels and massage parlors, that police believed served as fronts for prostitution.

The numbers targeted are listed in telephone directories, including BellSouth’s The Real Yellow Pages. BellSouth spokesman Kenny Blackburn said the company complied with the court order, and the numbers would not be in operation for a year.

Blackburn said The Real Yellow Pages has “very strict ethical standards and specifications for all the ads in our directories so they are not offensive, suggestive or illegal. And we hold all our businesses to this standard.”

The escort services ads in the Yellow Pages do not mention sexual activity but use words such as “confidential,” “courteous,” “discreet,” and “sophisticated” to describe their services.

Attempts by The Tennessean to contact representatives of escort services affected were unsuccessful Thursday.

Mia Meachum, owner of Mia’s Models, did not have her escort service’s phone number disconnected. Meachum said she operates a legal business that provides the service of companionship.

Meachum said her employees might be prostitutes when they’re hired but that she does not allow them to continue selling sex or to use drugs. She said the police’s strategy will hurt women.

“Police should be helping these women be safe and let them work as escorts. The girls on the streets are often homeless, and they get beat up by pimps,” said Meachum, who said she is a former prostitute. “Escort services are better for the girls. They are protected. There’s better pay. And a person like me is not on drugs. I help them get off drugs.”

Forrest said the phone numbers police shut down all funneled back to eight Nashville businesses, including one being run out of a home.

Undercover detectives said they obtained evidence of prostitution at the escort services. The evidence was presented to the judges, who signed the orders to disconnect the numbers.

Police say about 20 people face various prostitution-related charges because of the initiative.

One legal expert questioned the way police obtained the court orders.

Thomas McCoy, a constitutional law professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, said the use of utility regulations to disconnect phone numbers seemed valid. But it raises questions about the escort services’ ability to defend themselves against the action, he said.

In court, defendants must know when charges are brought against them, and then have the right to plead their case to a judge. Defendants also have the right to be present and to allow witnesses to testify on their behalf, McCoy said.

Two of the orders signed Nov. 25 were based on the sworn testimony of two Nashville detectives. The defendants were not at the hearings.

“Before a judge can order punishment, they have to determine that under the requirements that it is an illegal activity before they can shut down the telephone lines,” McCoy said. “Just doing it on the testimony of a detective, and with no notice, doesn’t sound like it meets the requirement.”