Vitter Escort: Palfrey Ran Prostitution Ring July 31, 2007 - 12:01pm
Neal Augenstein, WTOP Radio
WASHINGTON - WTOP Radio has learned a former escort, linked to a member of Congress, is set to testify alleged D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's escort service provided illegal prostitution.
Paula Neble, who worked for Palfrey between 1999 and 2006, told a federal grand jury in D.C. she considered her work for Palfrey prostitution, according to sources familiar with her testimony. The sources say Neble's testimony made no mention of then-Rep. David Vitter, who is now a U.S.Senator representing Louisiana.
Palfrey has maintained Pamela Martin & Associates provided legal escort services.
Immediately after Palfrey was indicted in March on federal racketeering and money laundering charges, she filed a civil lawsuit against Neble, claiming breach of contract. That civil suit is on hold, pending Palfrey's criminal trial.
In both her criminal and civil cases, Palfrey maintains she hired "independent contractors to provide solely legal sexual services." Palfrey says her company catered to adult fantasy in the nation's capital, without legal entanglement, for 13 years.
In e-mails, Palfrey tells WTOP she believes Neble "was a favorite of Mr. Vitter's," but says any sex-for-payment arrangement would have been outside the structure of her legal escort business.
"I had each and every gal sign a contract with me at the onset of her association with me that while 'on my watch,' she would NOT cross the line into illegality. I simply could not control what any of the women did on their own time," Palfrey writes.
Palfrey says Neble and other escorts used her company as a referral service, "to find steady clients who saw them on a regular, ongoing basis sans my involvement once the initial introduction was made."
Neble declined to be interviewed, according to her attorney Kathleen Voelker, who would not comment on whether Vitter was a former customer of Neble's.
WTOP has learned that Neble's AT&T cell phone number appeared 1,590 times in Palfrey's records, including in conjunction with calls to Vitter.
Palfrey has said when a customer requested an escort she would call the woman to check availability. She would then call the customer to confirm the location of the encounter and call the escort back to say where to meet the customer.
On Oct. 12, 1999 Palfrey's outgoing phone records indicate she called Neble at 5:54 p.m., immediately called Vitter at 5:57 p.m. then called Neble back at 5:59 p.m.
Vitter's spokesman Joel DiGrado did not respond to several phone requests for comment.
Neble has not been charged in connection with Palfrey's case, and will testify for the prosecution, in return for immunity, sources say. Palfrey has repeatedly argued she is the victim of selective prosecution, and that her former employees and customers should also face charges.
Now 36, Neble has gone to some lengths to protect her anonymity. Court records show she applied to legally change her name in 2001, and was granted the change in 2002. At the time she listed her job title as "consultant."
In her civil lawsuit, Palfrey accuses "Dr. Paula Neble" and 15 Jane Does of breach of contract, "by engaging in illegal sexual activities with customers of the escort service." Research by WTOP indicates Neble does not have a doctorate.
Channing Phillips, spokesman for D.C.'s United States Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, refused to comment on Neble, citing grand jury secrecy rules.
