Thanks to one of our on-the-ball online commenters, we can tell you that David Elms, founder of a popular Web site for finding quality hookers, has been sentenced by a California judge to four years in prison.
California authorities say Elms, 38, may do the time in Arizona, where prosecutors are trying him for an attempted contract assault on a local man, as well as drug and weapons charges.
The founder of www.theeroticreview.com, which the New York Times called the amazon.com of prostitution, blew off his Maricopa County court dates two months ago and spent time in Dubai and Mexico before being arrested while crossing the international border into California.
The Web site whiz was targeted in the assault case by Phoenix police investigators, who had followed up on info from one of the suspects in the "Desert Divas" prostitution ring case. An earlier charge, that Elms wanted to hire someone to kill a woman, was later dropped.
An article last month in the Contra Costa Times gives some details about the role played by local undercover cops in the bust:
Elms was arrested in Phoenix after police there got a tip from an informant and arranged an undercover meeting with him on Feb. 15, according to Detective Ray Egea.
During the meeting, Elms allegedly told officers he was having trouble with a prostitute who was suing him and said he may want her hurt or killed -- depending on how the court case played out, Egea said.
He also mentioned a 62-year-old man who ran a competing Web site and asked to have him injured, Egea said.
Elms inquired about buying a gun, and he was arrested when he bought a half-ounce of crack cocaine from the officers, according to Egea.
The article also describes the 2006 incident at a Manhattan Beach hotel room that led to Elms' sentencing on Monday for a probation violation. In that case, Elms pulled a gun on a prositute while high on crack, demanding that she give him oral sex.
Not your average computer geek.
