from www.freep.com – After years of running a lucrative escort service that once made him millions, Gregory Carr, co-owner of Miami Companions, pleaded guilty Thursday to running what the feds had dubbed one of the biggest prostitution rings in the country.

Carr, a Dearborn Heights native who now lives in the Orlando area in Florida, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow, explaining how for years he and his now ex-wife Laurie Carr ran a massive prostitution agency that raked in more than $4 million, Detroit being among its busiest locations.

“My biggest role was hiring the girls,” Carr told the judge.

When Tarnow asked him where he recruited the escorts from, Carr said that most of the call girls were referred from other employees who worked for Miami Companions. He also admitted that he did “a lot of retouching of the images” of the escorts that appeared on the Miami Companions website, and that he occasionally collected cash from the escorts.

Carr explained during his plea hearing that Miami Companions paid for the travel costs for the escorts, including airline fares and hotel stays. He also pleaded guilty to transferring funds – on average $300,000 a year – from Miami to Panama and Costa Rica. The money, he said, was used to pay for employee salaries and company expenses.

“You knew it was illegal, the whole operation,” Tarnow asked.

“Yes,” Carr answered.

Carr pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to launder money, and one count of conspiring to entice or coerce someone to engage in prostitution. The crimes carry a 25-year maximum prison sentence, although Carr is likely to get a signficantly shorter sentence. Under the sentencing guidelines listed in his plea agreement, he faces 21 to 27 months, although Tarnow noted that the guidelines are not binding.

After the plea hearing, Carr went to go sit with his girlfriend and co-defendant Fabiola Contreras, who kissed him on the cheek after he pleaded guilty. Contreras, a former call girl herself known in court records as “Antonella,” , is still facing charges and declined comment. Two local friends also were in the courtroom today to show Carr support.