David Elms, founder of a hooker-finding Web site, has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for trying to hire someone to assault a business rival.
Elms also was sentenced to five years' probation for his role in the infamous Desert Divas prostitution ring broken up by authorities a couple of years ago.
A news release from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office states that Elms received money from Desert Divas and allowed his Web site, www.theeroticreview.com, to help promote the illicit business.
If you want to know more about this case, check out our previous blog entries -- and especially the comment sections. This is one of those situations when readers who knew Elms came out of the woodwork to tell the full story.
Our first post about Elms, for example, has more than 106 comments, including some from the man Elms tried to pay someone to beat up, the 62-year-old owner of www.sexwork.com.
Elms is getting off easy, in our opinion -- as with attempted murder cases, society seems to reward criminals whose violent plans simply didn't work out.
Elms is no longer part of the company he founded, supposedly, but he'll probably land on all fours after his sentence ends.
After all, this is the entrepreneur who came up with the brilliant idea of a Web site that rates hookers, (some of whom felt compelled to prove their worth to Elms personally, following poor ratings). The New York Times called him one of the most powerful men in prostitution.
If he spends time with real pimps and bones up on his PHP code, Elms probably will obtain a doctorate in prostitution management by the time he gets out of prison.
