Prosecutors in the prostitution case against former Zumba instructor Alexis Wright delivered their final shipment of evidence to Wright’s attorney Monday, providing so much material that the lawyer expects it will take her until the end of February to get through it.
Wright’s attorney, Sarah Churchill, received the shipment as Kennebunk police released the fourth list of names of men charged with engaging a prostitute in the case.
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Four men were issued summonses to appear in Biddeford District Court on Dec. 20, bringing the total number of men charged or already convicted to 62.
The latest names released are:
Daniel A. Meyer, 41, of P.O. Box 81 in Raymond, charged on Nov. 15.
David F. Burley, 47, of 22 Lindale Ave. in Biddeford, charged on Nov. 19.
Christopher Cutshall, 52, of 305 Commercial St., Apt. 403 in Portland, charged on Nov. 20.
Roger C. Larson, 58, of 5 S. Beech Road in Harrison, charged on Nov. 21.
The Kennebunk Police Department has been releasing the names of suspected “johns” on its bi-weekly crime blotter.
The blotter is usually released on Fridays, but was delayed until Monday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Wright has been charged with 106 counts, including promotion of prostitution, engaging in prostitution, invasion of privacy, conspiracy, tax offenses and receiving welfare benefits when ineligible. She has pleaded not guilty.
The other key defendant in the case, Mark Strong Sr., a businessman from Thomaston, has been indicted on 59 misdemeanor charges of promotion of prostitution, violation of privacy and conspiracy to commit those crimes. He also has pleaded not guilty.
The case has grabbed international attention in part because Wright allegedly kept detailed records of more than 150 clients, including some prominent figures.
Churchill said she perused the evidence to see what was delivered.
“It’s fairly well organized,” she said. “It’s difficult to put pieces together because of the volume of it.”
Churchill said Monday’s delivery included three-ring binders filled with paper evidence, multiple compact discs with audio and video material, and three internal computer hard drives with markers on them. That adds to the thousands of pages of material she had already received.
“It will take me until the end of February to look at all of them,” she said.
Churchill has until March 26 to file evidentiary motions.
“There’s people in my office,” she said, “but in order to figure out what needs to be divvied up to whom, I need to look through it myself.”
Churchill said she doesn’t know whether police were aware, when they began investigating the prostitution case, that they would unearth so much evidence.
“It’s unusual for any case to have this much material associated with it,” she said. “Usually, the whole investigation
is done before people get charged. But here, it has been this ongoing snowball-going-down-the-hill type of thing.”
York County Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan declined to comment on the case when reached by phone Monday.
Staff Writer Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:
sdolan@mainetoday.com
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