PORTLAND, Maine – Prostitute Cheryl Vinton said Gary Reiner [pictured] fined her $200 for providing sex for money on days she was not working at the Danish Health Club.

Vinton was one of seven witnesses to take the stand in U.S. District Court on Tuesday during a second day of testimony in a federal case charging Reiner, the club’s attorney, with money laundering and prostitution-related crimes at the now defunct Kittery club.

Also taking the witness stand were a pimp and four johns – one who paid for sex at the club an estimated 150 to 200 times and another caught wearing just a condom when the club was raided in June 2004 by the FBI, IRS and State Police.

Vinton told the court she was hired to work at the Danish Health Club in 2000 and knew from the day of her interview that the club was selling sex, not massages.

While she was ordered to go to a Manchester, N.H., massage school to obtain a town-mandated massage license, Vinton said she only attended five classes, but got the necessary certificate of completion in exchange for paying the $500 class fee.

Describing her work at the club, Vinton said she asked johns if they preferred lotion or powder for an initia* rub down,” then asked how they’d like to end their massage. The choice was intercourse, oral sex or both, she said.

In four years of working there, Vinton said only one customer did not want sex.

The Danish Health Club prostitute said she discussed fees, fines, dress code and Internet postings about the club with Reiner. When an “older gentlemen” complained about the sexual services he obtained from another prostitute, Vinton said she was assigned by Reiner to service the disgruntled john in an effort to make it up to him.

“(Reiner) said, ‘I recommended this client to you,'” said Vinton. “I gave him a rubdown and I believe it was a hand release. There was a $100 tip.”

When Reiner read Internet rumors that Vinton was performing “outcalls,” or prostitution services, on her days off in hotels and other private locations, Reiner called her to his law office for a meeting, she testified.

“He told me I might have to take a lie-detector test at my own cost,” she told the court. “The price I was quoted was $2,000 to $3,000.”

On the way out the door, said Vinton, Reiner instructed her to pay his law firm’s receptionist $200.

“It was a fine for doing outcalls on my days off,” said Vinton.

Suspecting the theft of cash collected from johns to gain entry into the brothel, Reiner watched over costs closely, according to testimony from Russell Pallas, a former manager at the club.

“He asked me to count the number of sheets and towels,” Pallas said. “Each room would have two of each. He told me to make sure the counts were accurate and to keep a log.”

Reconciling dirty linen with $70-a-head cover charges was Reiner’s idea, said Pallas.

Subpoenaed to testify in exchange for a promise that his testimony would not be used against him, Richard Emery told the court he first went to the Kittery brothel in the mid-1990s after hearing about it through “word of mouth.”

“I wanted to see if it was true what I was hearing about it,” he said. “And I found out it was.”

The truth Emery was seeking came in the form of hand-to-genital gratification and cost him $150.

After that, he said, he became a regular, buying sex an average of every other month and leading to a $10-an-hour maintenance job, both inside the brothel and at Reiner’s nearby law office.

Emery was later assigned to work the club’s front desk, where he collected fees, assigned johns to prostitutes and acted as the occasional go-between for Reiner and the brothel business, he said.

When he told Reiner he was thinking about quitting due to his religious beliefs, Reiner offered him some advice, said Emery.

“He said, ‘Richard, you’ve got to put all that aside,'” testified Emery. “This is a business.”

Kevin Foley took the stand and told the court he purchased prostitution services at the Danish Health Club over the course of many years, and the women always initiated discussions about sex for cash.

“I wouldn’t feel up to asking a woman that,” he said. “Most of the times, I would get oral sex, or intercourse, or both. The last few times, it was around $200 for oral and intercourse.”

The very last time, he was in a “massage room” with “Candi,” whom he paid $200 before they began having sex and the club was raided, he said.

Both were naked with the exception of Foley’s condom.

“I just laid there with a towel on when the officers came in,” he said. “I just waited for them to start interviewing me, I guess.”

During his testimony, Joseph Scamman described himself as single, 45 years old and a resident of New Hampshire. He told the court he began going to the club in the 1980s and paid for prostitutes 150 to 200 times.

Each time, he said, he had his choice of six to 12 women and was charged varying fees depending on the woman and the sexual act. He also described a full range of sex bought at the Kittery club.

“Anywhere from $60 to $150, ballpark; $150 was usually sexual intercourse,” he said.

Robert Murphy was also subpoenaed to testify in exchange for immunity, and described himself as a 56-year-old New Hampshire resident of 30 years. Murphy said he bought sex at the club over the course of 15 years and rattled off the names of prostitutes and front-desk attendants with little prompting.

He had sex every time, he testified, and always paid for it, above and beyond the $70 cover charge.

Pimp Lance Williams, currently incarcerated following his guilty plea to charges of prostituting a 14-year-old girl at the Kittery club, said he started trafficking prostitutes to Kittery in the late 1980s. His group of prostitutes included his girlfriend, Cheryl Stilwell, who has also pleaded guilty to prostituting the minor.

Williams told the court Stilwell made $400 to $1,000 a day at the Danish Health Club, while another prostitute working for him, Tara Morales, gave him $500 to $1,000 every day she worked. Business was so good that when Williams was summoned to Kittery to meet with Reiner regarding complaints that Morales was overcharging customers, he said he had his choice of three different models of Lexus luxury cars to drive himself there.

It was during that meeting with Reiner, said Williams, that he complained about the numerous fines imposed on the prostitutes he was pimping at the club. He said he told Reiner, “he was running the club messed up.”

“I said, ‘Do you consider yourself a pimp, also?'” Williams testified under oath. “(Reiner) said, ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘Well, you are.’ Because he was charging them fines and pocketing that money.”

Williams said he traveled from Massachusetts to Reiner’s Kittery law office three times to discuss prostitutes he was bringing to the club, another two times to attempt to get another woman hired and a fifth time for a meeting at a Kittery coffee shop. He also met Reiner in a Boston strip club to discuss possible new hires, said Williams, who testified he was fast losing interest in doing business with Reiner because of the continuous fines, as well as a tip about police surveillance.

“They had to pay $500 to go to (massage) school and were getting fined for every little thing,” said Williams. “I also was informed the club was being watched, and I told (Reiner) the police are watching the club and taking pictures.”

Reiner has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being represented by attorneys Steven Gordon and James Rosenberg. Attorney Alan Stone assisted in trial preparation and has been in the courtroom throughout the trial proceedings.

Back Story:

PORTLAND, Maine –A Kittery lawyer accused of running a prostitution ring and conspiring to launder the millions of dollars in profits it generated went on trial Monday in U.S. District Court.

Eight jurors and four alternates were selected last week to hear the case of Gary Reiner, a 54-year-old former chairman of the Kittery Town Council who was described by friends and colleagues as a respected lawyer and a family man.

The prosecution alleges that Reiner ran the Danish Health Club, a massage parlor where women were brought in from out of state to work as prostitutes. Reiner is accused of negotiating with pimps, writing ads for an adult entertainment guide and even working the front desk.

The trial is expected to continue for two weeks. If convicted, Reiner faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Five other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty, including the woman who maintained the club’s financial books, the club’s former manager, a woman who allegedly worked there as a prostitute, and the club itself.

The prosecution has said that the charges go beyond the ordinary prostitution case.

“This is the largest money-laundering conspiracy in a number of years, if not the history of the District of Maine,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Toby Dilworth told the court in May.

Court documents show that during a raid of the Danish Health Club in June 2004, a naked man wearing a condom was found with an attendant. Other evidence includes condoms, lubricants and financial records.

The club remained open for 20 years despite police scrutiny.

Kittery Police Chief Edward Strong said in an affidavit that his department received various complaints over the years about alleged prostitution there but police were unable to gather enough evidence to justify charges.