Man Pleads Guilty To Prostitution Parties

Sun., Dec. 13, 1998

From Staff

A Washington state man pleaded guilty to charges of gaining profits from prostitution at parties he allegedly hosted with a sheriff’s deputy and a police officer.

Jeffrey Pease of Yakima pleaded guilty Thursday to a gross misdemeanor. He had originally been accused of three felony charges of promoting and aiding prostitution.

In testimony, Pease was implicated as an organizer of parties in July and December 1997. He’s set to be sentenced Jan. 25.

Beltrami County sheriff’s deputy Bill Atwater and Bemidji police Sgt. Daryle Russell are still on trial, accused of promoting prostitution at the parties.

According to testimony Friday, Atwater and Russell charged fellow officers and other friends $50 to attend their parties, where Twin Cities strippers provided the entertainment.

A fellow officer blew the whistle on the parties after he said Russell was inviting people to the parties during work hours, said Deb Peterson, an assistant state attorney general.

Deputy Steven Andersen, the whistle-blower, testified that Atwater told him at a bar that $50 would cover the cost of bringing in three strippers and that he should bring extra money to the party for sex.

Anderson also testified that Atwater said a fellow officer had sex with a stripper at a previous party, and that friends had chipped in to pay for it.

Atwater’s attorney, Robert Wallner, told jurors that the officer might have had sex with the stripper, but witnesses would testify that no one ever collected money to pay her.

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