Desert Divas
People often hear about the desert in stories that relate the harsh living conditions of those areas. But the Desert Divas were a story of another type. It was a prostitution ring in Arizona that became famous when police put the finger on them in 2008.
Desert Divas was run by a man named Paul Nichta, from Paradise Valley, Arizona. He mainly ran his operation online. A partial list is Desert Divas, AZ Confidential, Hips Tour and Escorts in Action. Paul’s business, and thus his stable of girls, extended into New Mexico and even Pennsylvania. The ring really had no official name, but because it was based in the desert city of Phoenix, the name Desert Divas from one of the web sites became the one most used by the media and police.
It holds many records. Desert Divas was the subject of the largest prostitution investigation in Arizona history. As of August 2008 there were 50 people charged including Nichta, many of the prostitutes, and clients who were mostly from out of town. As a result of this sting, three homes, a motorcycle, and eight additional vehicles will be sold at auction. Girls working for this organization could earn $2000 a night, with an extra $15,000 in tips.
Desert Divas hired a wide variety of girls. Some were as young as 18, while others were as old as 40. Many women were attracted to work for this business which included everything from escort services to live web cameras. Some of the websites included pay-per-view live sex action.
It was September before three of the owners were indicted, including Paul. Authorities filed charges in both New Mexico and Arizona. Racketeering was one of the main charges – it’s nothing more than engaging in illegal business activities. It’s was college newspaper ads that first got many women involved in this operation. It would start out with the web cams and legitimate dating services before moving to pornography and paid sexual services.
Desert Diva was also the name of a pretty unlucky woman. She used the name Desert Diva Assistant for her business assistant service. Many people thought she was the same as the now famous case. She received crank e-mails and phone calls, including from some lawyers claiming she had stolen a cat.
The world gets weirder and weirder. This is only further reinforced by the case of the Desert Divas.
Filed under: Fun Stuff on February 26th, 2009
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