Woman pleads guilty in Spitzer call girl probe

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO | anthony.destefano@newsday.com

6:43 PM EDT, May 14, 2008

Temeka Rachelle Lewis exits Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, May 14, 2008, in New York. Lewis is accused of booking clients for a prostitution ring and has pleaded guilty in the federal probe that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. (Associated Press / May 14, 2008)

She was the booker for the hookers.

A 32-year-old Brooklyn woman accused of setting up the sex date that destroyed former Governor Eliot Spitzer's political career, pleaded guilty Wednesday to playing a role in an international prostitution operation.'

Temeka Rachelle Lewis told a Manhattan federal magistrate-judge that she conspired to both run the Emperors Club prostitution operation and to launder its illicit proceeds through various bank accounts.

Lewis, who was an English major in college, told Magistrate-Judge Theodore Katz that for three years her job was to set up dates for prostitutes with clients. Lewis also said that she directed clients to send money to certain business accounts controlled by the club.

As part of her plea agreement with the government, Lewis will cooperate with prosecutors in their continuing investigation, according to her defense attorney Mark Agnifilo. While Agnifilo said he wanted the court to seal the agreement Katz declined to do so. Lewis, who is free on bail, faces a sentence of between 16 to 18 months under federal sentencing guidelines, according to Agnifilo. Lewis also agreed to give up any right to over $1 million in cash and bank accounts seized by investigators in March.

"She is going to put this behind her," Agnifilo told Newsday. "It is not a point she ever thought she would be in."

Agnifilo said that prosecutors have been very tight lipped about what direction the investigation was going, including whether Spitzer could be charged. But another defense attorney involved in the case thought the seven page plea agreement indicated that further charges were possible.

"It shouldn't be surprising that they could make a pretty good case against others," said Professor Carl Tobias, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Richmond.

Spitzer faces potential Mann Act and federal travel act prosecutions related to interstate prostitution. He is also reportedly under investigation to see if he used any campaign funds to finance his out-of-state rendezvous with prostitutes.

Brandy Bergman, a spokeswoman for Spitzer, declined to comment.

Spitzer's name didn't come in the court proceeding yesterday. But he is believed to have been the man identified as "Client 9" in the original federal complaint filed back in March. Court papers indicated that Spitzer paid for sexual encounter with a prostitute in February at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Ashley Alexandra Dupré, the prostitute who allegedly met with Spitzer, hasn't been charged and has been cooperating with investigators.

The original complaint indicated that Lewis talked with Spitzer on the telephone in February to set up the date with Dupré and to straighten out his method of paying for the 22-year-old woman's services.

The two-count federal information mentioned that she talked to an Emperors Club client in January but gave no indication it was Spitzer, who resigned as Governor on March 12.

Lewis's guilty plea was anticipated. It is also expected that her three co-defendants will enter guilty pleas by next Wednesday, according to an attorney familiar with the case. Those also arrested in March were suspected ringleader Mark Brener,62, Cecil Suwal, 23, and Tanya Hollander, 36.