Ex-Prosecutor Accused of Supplying Prostitutes for ‘Nice Guys’ Club
Police have shut down a club known as “The Minnesota Nice Guys” whose members engaged in trysts with high-priced prostitutes allegedly arranged by a former prosecutor.
Police claim former Hennepin County prosecutor John St. Marie, 65, booked flights and hotel rooms for the prostitutes who hooked up with the Nice Guys, the Star-Tribune reports. Club members included lawyers, business owners, accountants and mortgage bankers.
St. Marie, who uses a wheelchair because of childhood polio, has not been charged or arrested. Police allege he started the club in 2003 after he left the county attorney’s office, where he had represented social service agencies, worked on foster care licensing disputes, and worked on civil commitments of people who were mentally ill or chemically dependent.
Investigators told the newspaper that St. Marie didn’t make money in the enterprise, but he allegedly received free sex.
“St. Marie knew he would be caught at some point because we monitored telephone calls with him discussing his own behavior as illegal,” police Sgt. Grant Snyder told the Star-Tribune. “He admitted he had been seeing prostitutes for 35 years, which would have been when he worked for the county attorney’s office.”
St. Marie made no comment when the newspaper contacted him. His lawyer, Jim Dahlquist, said St. Marie is “looking forward to having a fair opportunity to bring forth the issues involved in this case.”
Hat tip to Legal Blog Watch.
