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Sports journalist-turned-pimp collected Marriott Rewards points

samsung1

Ohio

Kevin Provencher, the award-winning sports journalist sentenced to prison Friday for his role running a prostitution ring, stayed loyal to one hotel chain when conducting his "side business:" Marriott.

According to the July 28, 2009 police report posted online by the Eagle Tribune newspaper, Andover, Mass., police began investigating after staff from the Marriott-brand Springhill Suites hotel at 550 Minuteman Road called in possible prostitution activity.

Hotel staff told police that Provencher, 52, had been booking rooms at the hotel for several Thursdays and Fridays and "paying with a credit card linked to a rewards points system used by the chain of hotels owned by the Marriott hotels," the report says.

In other words, he booked rooms for prostitutes using Marriott Rewards credit card.

Marriott Reward's basic card gives cardholders perks such as 22,500 bonus points after their first purchase and 10 nights credit towards elite status.

Sometimes, according to the police report, he'd tell the staff that his "girlfriend or wife" was coming to meet him or was going to use the room while he was at work. After a female arrived, "a steady flow of men" would visit the room in half-hour or hour intervals, the report says.

Police detectives later spoke with a suspected prostitute, who Provencher initially interviewed for the job at a Starbucks. She told police that he'd arranged for her to work at "various Marriott hotels," including a Fairfield Inn and Springhill Suites in Manchester, N.H.

Prosecutors, by the way, said that Provencher required the women to pay him back for the hotel rooms he booked for them.

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2…