Intelius co-founder charged with lying in Colacurcio strip-club investigation
samsung1
Ohio
A co-founder of the Bellevue-based people-finder service Intelius has been indicted on a charge of lying to a grand jury about having sex with dancers at Rick's as part of the ongoing prosecution of strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Sr. and the government's efforts to shut his clubs down.
A co-founder of the Bellevue-based people-finder service Intelius has been indicted on a charge of lying to a grand jury about having sex with dancers at Rick's as part of the ongoing prosecution of strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Sr. and the government's efforts to shut his clubs down.
John Kenneth Arnold, 47, pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon during his arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He was released on his own recognizance.
The indictment was issued last September and unsealed upon Arnold's arrest Thursday morning.
The indictment alleges that during sworn testimony on Feb. 18, 2009, Arnold was asked a series of questions about whether he had engaged in sex acts with dancers at Rick's. Arnold answered no.
The indictment alleges Arnold had lied in his testimony.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenburg, who is overseeing the Colacurcio prosecution, declined to comment on the government's evidence. However, search warrants and a lengthy indictment filed in the Colacurcio money-laundering, prostitution and racketeering prosecution revealed that agents had hidden cameras in an executive area of the club.
The grand jury has also obtained evidence and testimony from dancers.
The 92-year-old Colacurcio, his son, Frank Jr. and three longtime associates — Leroy R. Christiansen, David C. Ebert and Steven M. Fueston — were indicted last July on charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to use interstate facilities in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and mail fraud. A fourth associate, Colacurcio's longtime friend and caregiver, John Gilbert "Gil" Conte, 76, pleaded guilty to prostitution-related conspiracy charges in November.
They operated four clubs, including Rick's, which the government is now trying to seize.
Indictments for lying to a grand jury are relatively rare, and the U.S. Attorney's Office was clearly sending a message with this one.
In a statement, office spokeswoman Emily Langlie said, "Truthful testimony is the bedrock of our criminal justice system. When a witness seeks to mislead the grand jury, or the court, on a material matter, the consequences are significant and the punishment can be substantial. Our indictment today seeks to hold Mr. Arnold accountable for untruthful testimony to the grand jury."
Arnold is listed as one of Intelius' co-founders. It offers a number of online directories and services, including a "sleaze detector" allows subscribers to obtain criminal and other background information on prospective dates.
According to the company's Web site, Arnold has served as executive vice president of business development since Intelius was formed in 2003. Before that, he was an executive vice president at InfoSpace. Telephone messages seeking comment from Intelius were not returned.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/28/mor…
“You claim to have lasted 20 minutes and provided miss [stripper] with 2 orgasms?â€
“Yes sir, that is correct.â€
“Then why did miss [stripper] tell us that you only lasted 40 seconds and she didn't even tingle?â€
“I, uh, I'm sorry!â€
This is how I imagined it happening from the title, I'm disappointed that this isn't the case.
A co-founder of the Bellevue-based people-finder service Intelius has been indicted on a charge of lying to a grand jury about having sex with dancers at Rick's as part of the ongoing prosecution of strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Sr. and the government's efforts to shut his clubs down.
John Kenneth Arnold, 47, pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon during his arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He was released on his own recognizance.
The indictment was issued last September and unsealed upon Arnold's arrest Thursday morning.
The indictment alleges that during sworn testimony on Feb. 18, 2009, Arnold was asked a series of questions about whether he had engaged in sex acts with dancers at Rick's. Arnold answered no.
The indictment alleges Arnold had lied in his testimony.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenburg, who is overseeing the Colacurcio prosecution, declined to comment on the government's evidence. However, search warrants and a lengthy indictment filed in the Colacurcio money-laundering, prostitution and racketeering prosecution revealed that agents had hidden cameras in an executive area of the club.
The grand jury has also obtained evidence and testimony from dancers.
The 92-year-old Colacurcio, his son, Frank Jr. and three longtime associates — Leroy R. Christiansen, David C. Ebert and Steven M. Fueston — were indicted last July on charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to use interstate facilities in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and mail fraud. A fourth associate, Colacurcio's longtime friend and caregiver, John Gilbert "Gil" Conte, 76, pleaded guilty to prostitution-related conspiracy charges in November.
They operated four clubs, including Rick's, which the government is now trying to seize.
Indictments for lying to a grand jury are relatively rare, and the U.S. Attorney's Office was clearly sending a message with this one.
In a statement, office spokeswoman Emily Langlie said, "Truthful testimony is the bedrock of our criminal justice system. When a witness seeks to mislead the grand jury, or the court, on a material matter, the consequences are significant and the punishment can be substantial. Our indictment today seeks to hold Mr. Arnold accountable for untruthful testimony to the grand jury."
Arnold is listed as one of Intelius' co-founders. It offers a number of online directories and services, including a "sleaze detector" allows subscribers to obtain criminal and other background information on prospective dates.
According to the company's Web site, Arnold has served as executive vice president of business development since Intelius was formed in 2003. Before that, he was an executive vice president at InfoSpace. Telephone messages seeking comment from Intelius were not returned.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/28/mor…
“You claim to have lasted 20 minutes and provided miss [stripper] with 2 orgasms?â€
“Yes sir, that is correct.â€
“Then why did miss [stripper] tell us that you only lasted 40 seconds and she didn't even tingle?â€
“I, uh, I'm sorry!â€
This is how I imagined it happening from the title, I'm disappointed that this isn't the case.
3 comments
However, being a single guy in his late 20's, I didn't have anything to hide nor anything to lose. And while I'm not going to post these things on my facebook page, I'm not ashamed of them per se. One friend knows I've indulged in that sort of SC activity, but then he's an LA transplant who tells me that LA and Tampa clubs are pretty out there as well, so it's our little secret.
Besides, what's that they always say? It's not the deed, it's the lying about the deed. So I was truthful when they interviewed me at my home. Yes, of course I went there, yes I did have sex/oral sex, and no it didn't happen every time or with every dancer, and yes I did seek out dancers already knowing which ones did or as often as not didn't provide higher mileage. They asked me about specific dancers and activities and it was obvious they had a pretty good idea of who did what (the FBI affidavit that came out a year and a half ago was practically a trip down memory lane!) and I said what I knew. I understand a few dancers had become informants anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few hookups were with women already cooperating with the DA. They also asked if dancers ever sold me drugs or asked to be paid in drugs, I said that had never happened (because it hadn't).
So this dude, Arnold, was being dumb: they don't much care about you the peon customer, but they do care about you lying because the honest testimony is how they built up their case beyond the initial charges. And from what I've heard, the Colacurios were slimebags, so I don't mind if they get sent up river for a long time and/or lose their clubs. The only sadness is how long it'd take for other clubs to arise in the Seattle ecosystem that meet the same need that Rick's and Honey's did in their heyday, of places a lonely guy could go on a workday afternoon and get teased or even blown or fucked quickly and conveniently by a wide variety of attractive women.
If Founder ever posts a "10 Commandments" section, THAT ought to be on there.