KENNEBUNK, Maine — Kennebunk police are expected today to release another batch of names of men accused of paying for sex at an alleged prostitution business in the town.
Today’s announcement would be the fourth biweekly installment in the incremental release of names of alleged johns in this high profile case, which has garnered global media attention. The previous three releases identified a total of 54 men accused of being clients of Alexis Wright, who police believe ran a prostitution business out of her Kennebunk fitness studio alongside Thomaston businessman Mark Strong.
Both Wright and Strong have pleaded not guilty to a slate of charges stemming from the alleged operation.
Another four men pre-emptively pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging a prostitute and did not appear in the biweekly list of summonses, bringing the number of alleged johns thus far to 58.
Investigators have said Wright kept meticulous records, including a client list with more than 150 names on it. At the current rate of between 15 and 21 announced summonses about every two weeks, the incremental release of alleged clients could drag on another two months.
Thus far, the list of men charged includes former South Portland Mayor James Soule, former Kennebunk High School hockey coach Donald Hill, local lawyer Jens Bergens, former Portland Planning Board Chairman Joe Lewis and former Church of the Nazarene Pastor James Andrew Ferreira.
Kennebunk police are including the names of men charged with engaging a prostitute in their biweekly blotter, which was regularly scheduled to be released on Friday. But because of the holiday week, the release was postponed until Monday afternoon.
Kennebunk Lt. Anthony Bean Burpee has said investigators are combing through massive amounts of evidence in the case, including videos Wright is alleged to have made of her encounters with clients, and they are issuing summonses to accused johns as they collect enough evidence to do so.
Kennebunk PD: can you please stop this sensationalistic nonsense and just post whatever information you have to the public record and let’s be done with this? Please, we get it: men have hoohaws and urges and want to satisfy those urges and, given the world’s oldest profession, there are vendors who are willing to accommodate market opportunities. We get it. All of us get it, okay, guys? If you’re trying to shame the “johns,” mission accomplished. But why this parsed releasing of names? It’s undignified, and it reeks of your information officer watching too much “reality” TV and being waaaay too prurient. We get it, okay? If there are charges to be leveled, go ahead. But this dragging it all out is just sensationalism, and what I would’ve thought was beneath the standards of behavior of Kennebunk’s Finest: you’re not very far from crossing the line from “Shame on them” to “Shame on you.”
got to agree—It’s one thing to release the names of johns who will be charged with engaging a prostitute but there is absolutly no reason to release these names in batches of 20 every two weeks accept for grandstanding by the poiice and the prosecutors office who enjoy the publicity. Frankly, by now all names should have been released. This story doesn’t have the legs to run as long as it has.
I like it. Sort of like waiting for the next installment of a Charles Dickens novel.
Gross Expectations? :D
I wish I had written this.
The humble Farmer
I agree. Report the news, don’t create it. This is being blown way out of proportion. Too bad we couldn’t keep important matters in the news this long.
It takes a while to watch 150 porn videos. They probably need to see them several times to gather all the evidence.
BDN who cares! Let this story go once and for all!
i agree! what a waste of time
Hurry up BDN! We want to see who was being or who was getting set up to be extorted in these here hills.
And to you “Johns”, we will understand this. It’s an old control
strategy from before any of us were even a twinkle in our Dad’s eye.
Take heart, all will be well! Truth wins!
The KPD needs to do a thorough job, I believe we all need to know who the criminals are. Alexis and Strong were playing a dangerous game by spying on the criminal Johns. This is why we need everyone and everything EXPOSED..
“Another four men pre-emptively pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging a prostitute and did not appear in the biweekly list of summonses, bringing the number of alleged johns thus far to 58.”
I didn’t know you could plead guilty without being charged. Either way their names should be public record for the guilty pleas. Is this where the coverup of the “big names” begins?