Prostitution Ring Using Body-Builders Uncovered

INDIANAPOLIS — Authorities say banking officials, a Roman Catholic priest and a policeman were among the customers in a nationwide prostitution ring that used body-building athletes.

No names were disclosed Sunday when Marion County law enforcement officials announced that the Indianapolis-based prostitution network had been broken after a four-year investigation.

Marion County Prosecutor Stephen Goldsmith said the organizer of the ring, James William Dayton, died March 16 of a heart attack during a sexual encounter with another man at a Tiffen, Ohio, motel. Dayton was a computer scientist at Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis.

“Nevertheless, we have dozens and dozens of prostitutes, and we have hundreds of customers and patrons,” the prosecutor said. “We have a ring involving tens of thousands of dollars and a substantial health hazard, we believe, for the city of Indianapolis.

“So we’ve asked the investigators to begin by looking at the most frequent prostitutes and interviewing the patrons asking them for their cooperation in arranging AIDS testing.”

Dayton, 44, was believed to have matched at least 100 prostitutes and 300 patrons through a sophisticated electronic network that sought clients through advertisements in homosexual magazines.

The operation mainly paired male body-builders with professionals and executives, the prosecutor said. The body-builders often frequented Indianapolis health and fitness centers.

Police said when Dayton died, authorities discovered among his personal effects detailed records of male prostitutes who worked for Dayton and their clients.