Paul Nichta, 33, owner and ring leader
Pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering and use of a wire or electronic communication, Thomas said. Nichta admitted to owning, operating and receiving money from Night Partner's Entertainment, which included the Desert Divas business, Thomas said. He also acknowledged the operation as a prostitution enterprise. Nichta faces 2.5 years in prison following his sentencing, scheduled for June 25.

Peter Shifman, 57, accountant
Pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering and use of a wire or electronic communication, Thomas said. Shifman admitted to being the accountant for Night Partner's Entertainment and knowing it was a prostitution business, Thomas said. He also admitted to receiving money from the prostitution proceeds. Shifman faces 2.5 years in prison following his June 18 sentencing.

Scott Eder, 36, manager
Pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering and illegal use of wire or electronic communications. He faces 2.5 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 28. Eder was the manager of the Arizona Confidential business which operated under the larger umbrella company of Night Partner's Entertainment, Thomas said. He admits to being an integral part in managing women engaged in prostitution and that he received money from this business, Thomas said.

Shelia Bucalo, 42, manager
Pleaded guilty to money laundering and operating or maintaining a house of prostitution. She faces 1.5 years in prison when she is sentenced on May 14. Bucalo admits to working as a phone operator setting up prostitution dates for Night Partner's Entertainment as well as completing some managerial tasks for the prostitution enterprise, Thomas said.

Sean Carter, 40, manager
Pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering and use of a wire or electronic vommunication. No sentencing date has been set. Carter admits to being a manager for Night partner's Entertainment, assisting with hiring, scheduling and personnel issues for the women employed as prostitutes, Thomas said.

Adam Beech, 25, part owner and photographer
Pleaded guilty to illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering and use of a wire or electronic communication. He faces 1.5 years in prison when he is sentenced July 1. Beech admits to being part owner of Night Partner's Entertainment in 2006 and being part of the management team, Thomas said. Later, he continued working for the prostitution enterprise taking nude photos and pornographic videos used to advertise the prostitution enterprise on the web, Thomas said.

Dr. Ross Levatter, 53, investor and VIP customer
Pleaded guilty to attempted money laundering. He faces probation when he is sentenced on May 14. Levatter admits to attempting to possess money that was the proceeds of pandering, Thomas said.

Louis Stirling, 55, and William Ferretti, 65, VIP customers
Pleaded guilty to attempted pandering. Both face sentencing next month.

Pandering and lawyers defense
Someone asked what Pandering was:

Most definitions require some kind of exploitation such as a pimp.  But AZ Statute 13-3209 is far broader:

A person is guilty of a class 5 felony who knowingly:

1. Places any person in the charge or custody of any other person for purposes of prostitution.

2. Places any person in a house of prostitution with the intent that such person lead a life of prostitution.

3. Compels, induces or encourages any person to reside with that person, or with any other person, for the purpose of prostitution.

4. Compels, induces or encourages any person to lead a life of prostitution.

In my view Peter (the accountant) is far less guilty than the others and he kept very good records of all the money transactions. If he wanted to hide the money he wouldn't have done such a good job accounting for it in the records.

I have also made various comments about the lawyering.

For the almost $200,000 in legal fees I was disappointed they didn't attack the prostitution law it self either using Lawrence vs Texas Supreme Court case or attacking the vagueness of the Arizona law. The might have had a jury that would be more favorable and I am not sure taking a plea agreement helped them vs what they would get if the went to trial.

But I am not trying to be a lawyer but having a lot of info on the case I think it could have been defended. However, as I had said from the start after reading the police report the totally worst part for Peter was the lunch with Paul and the cop. But the tape was muffled and the undercover's report could be attacked in the view of some related to Peter.

Paul's situation was much worse, the solicitation at meet and greets and a whole lot more. But the accountant who may have known what was going on, but simply kept good records and his spreading money in different accounts he recommended for any business I believe was unfairly treated. Especially since many of the plea deals of others including some of the gals, were for them to say things about Peter that may or may not have been totally true. But I don't know the truth either.

It was disgusting how County Attorney Andrew Thomas talked about how they "enslaved" women working for them. I doubt any of the escorts felt that way but it makes a false justification for the waste of so much money to go after DD.

KPHO NEWS 10PM Update

County Attorney Andrew said about VIP clients that "not only paid for sex but wrote reviews of the so called performance of the prostitutes."  They pointed out Dr. Ross Levatter who wrote reviews and replayed the tape of last August of his "shocked" neighbor.  Than they reported that police are still looking for David Elms who owned a website where customers would write reviews of the prostitutes.

Dave notes - actually no one was charged with prostitution. Dr Levatter somehow plead to ATTEMPTED Money Laundering (Huh? he was just a customer) and admitted to attempting to possess money that was proceeds from pandering.... Another huh?  And customers Stirling and Ferretti pled guilty to ATTEMPTED pandering.  It seems like the pandering was due to the reviews!  Both were known very active reviewers.  Someone told me Ferreti had 150 posted reviews and the Dr about 40. It is reported that they also were given discounts.

Was posting reviews or if the discounts given were known by LE, result in "attempted pandering" under the AZ definition: Compels, induces or encourages any person to lead a life of prostitution.  I guess encouragement might imply but I wonder if a jury would have reached that conclusion with a good defense argument