NORCROSS, Ga. — Lisa Ann Taylor’s [aka Melissa Wolf] real estate career may be in jeopardy, now that she is accused of running a prostitution ring at her suburban Atlanta mansion, but business is booming for the stripper, who is preparing for sold-out audiences on a whirlwind exotic dancing tour.
The 42-year-old former Penthouse model told reporters Wednesday that she had been trying to get out of the adult entertainment business and was excited about a budding real estate career. But all that came to a sudden halt earlier this month when she and another woman were arrested on prostitution, racketeering and drug charges.
Miss Taylor’s real estate license was inactivated. A lien was placed on her million-dollar home.
But her Web site, where she goes by the name Melissa Wolf, buzzed with traffic. At one point, it became overloaded and shut down. Her upcoming shows at strip clubs in Canada and the Midwest are booked.
“Business is good right now,” Miss Taylor said. “I don’t have enough weeks in the year.”
Still, Miss Taylor said the experience has been bittersweet, because her arrest has pulled her back into the life she had been trying to escape.
Wearing Chanel sunglasses, a low-cut white top and a black-and-white pinstriped pantsuit, and sporting a French manicure, she faced a gaggle of local journalists at her attorney’s Norcross office and vowed to fight the charges.
She faces up to 37 years in prison.
“I try not to think of it too much right now,” Miss Taylor said. “I’m scared a little. But I’m confident in both of my attorneys.”
She also admonished her accusers, who include some of her neighbors.
“My question to them is that if I’m having these wild parties at 4 and 5 in the morning, what are they doing up at that time in the morning peeking through my windows? Shame on them,” she said.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Miss Taylor and Nicole A. Probert, 30, were operating a call-girl service out of Miss Taylor’s mansion in a gated neighborhood north of Atlanta. The women also are accused of procuring drugs for their clients and friends.
Mr. Porter has promised to bring charges against the clients as well.