Prostitution bust involves isles

An Chicago-area man allegedly brought his prostitutes to cities including Honolulu

CHICAGO » A Chicago-area man has been charged with running a group of prostitutes, including underage teenage girls, who walked the streets of Hollywood, Honolulu and other cities, authorities say.

"So what? Some of my best girls were minors," Jody L. Spears, about 35, whose last known address was in suburban Schaumburg, was quoted as saying in an FBI affidavit prosecutors filed in U.S. District Court.

Spears was arrested July 14 in a suburb outside Cleveland as part of an ongoing federal investigation federal officials have dubbed "Innocence Lost." It focuses on an interstate prostitution ring allegedly headed by a pimp who went under the nickname Blue Diamond.

Others accused of being part of the ring have been charged in Hawaii and Michigan as well as Chicago.

In December, four Detroit men were charged in connection with the scheme -- one of four nationwide prostitution rings being investigated under a federal program that targets human traffickers and promoters of child prostitution in the United States on an unrelated theft charge.

At least two underage girls from Hawaii who were recruited for the prostitution ring are cooperating with authorities.

The 25-page affidavit was unsealed Tuesday when Spears made a court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez.

According to the affidavit, one young woman told agents she and Spears lived for a year in an apartment in Chicago's Marina City owned by downtown dentist Gary S. Kimmel and received dental services from him.

Kimmel is facing federal charges that he accepted $405,000 from two pimps to buy, finance, insure and maintain luxury autos, including a Corvette and a Mercedes-Benz. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Various women were quoted in the affidavit as saying that Spears took them to New York, Las Vegas, Honolulu and other cities to work as prostitutes. One woman said Spears sent her to Los Angeles and told her to get a room in Hollywood and "work on Sunset Boulevard" to earn money.

She did -- and landed in jail for two weeks, the affidavit said.

The female witnesses quoted in the affidavit -- who were not identified by name -- said Spears sometimes had them walk seedy "prostitution tracks" where patrons always knew they would be able to make contact.

One said Spears was upset when she came back from Memphis, Tenn., without enough money because her feet had hurt and she could not walk the track.

Women said they started working for Spears when they were 16 and 17 years old, and one girl told of starting out as a prostitute at age 14 and working for an associate of Spears when she was 15.

Officials said that the maximum for recruiting and transporting underage girls for prostitution under federal law is life in prison.