After a state judge declined to stop the release of customers’ names in the Zumba studio-turned-brothel scandal, a lawyer has filed an appeal against it Friday. The appeal came in the very day Police planned to announce the names of the ‘clients,’ and now law enforcement officials say they are awaiting word from the courts.
Alexis Wright, 29, the fitness instructor accused of running a brothel underneath her fitness business in Kennebunk, Maine, pleaded not guilty to 106 counts of prostitution, invasion of privacy, and tax evasion. Her business partner, Mark Strong Sr., a 57-year-old insurance agent and private investigator from Thomaston, also has pleaded not guilty to 59 misdemeanor charges for his alleged role.
Kennebunk police have been issuing summons to Wright's johns and originally planned to release the first names of suspected clients on Friday.
Lawyer Stephen Schwartz is appealing and is also asking permission to take the case to superior court.
Searches conducted at Wright's studio and office turned up video recordings of sexual acts, billing information and meticulous records about clients, according to court documents.
Based on that information, Kennebunk police have been begun issuing summonses to Wright's johns on misdemeanor charges of engaging a prostitute. The first names were to be released Friday in police activity reports that are made public every other week, said Lt. Anthony Burpee.
But a lawyer for two of the men believed to be on the list asked a judge on Thursday to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the release of the names.
