For those with a need to know, here's a copy off the newspaper's website... and I've highlighted what I think is the more important portion. Remember, the cops made their bust in June 2011 after a month-long investigation. The prosecutor notes this is a "complex" case. My gut says she hasn't yet figured out where the supposed crime happened...much less if a crime did happen.
Computer Forensics Slows Prostitution Prosecution
By
Jeff Proctor / Journal Staff Writer on Fri, Sep 30, 2011
APD detectives and federal agents are still trying to sort through the computer labyrinth that was “Southwest Companions,” the Internet prostitution ring allegedly run by former University of New Mexico President F. Chris Garcia and others that served as many as 1,400 johns, police officials said Thursday.
“This is still a very active, ongoing investigation,” Albuquerque Police Department Chief Ray Schultz said in a telephone interview. “Anytime you’re dealing with forensic computer analysis, it’s going to take time.”
Meanwhile, District Attorney Kari Brandenburg’s office has temporarily dismissed promoting prostitution and other charges against Garcia and his co-defendants.
Those arrested in the case in June are: the site’s owner, David C. Flory, a 68-year-old physics professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey; 36-year-old Brian M. Dorsey, a former owner of the site; and 40-year-old Douglas Plummer of Albuquerque. All four are out of jail on bond.
Brandenburg said temporary dismissals are common in complex cases such as the one against the Southwest Companions proprietors. The dismissal takes prosecutors off the clock that gives them 60 days from the time of an arraignment to secure an indictment.
“We anticipate moving forward in this case sometime in the next few months, hopefully by presenting the case to a grand jury,” she said. “Of course, we don’t have control over the computer portion of the investigation. And sometimes, you end up getting more and more information as an investigation continues.”
Schultz would not comment on what detectives have found so far. He has said in the past that a list of johns who used the site to arrange encounters with prostitutes is a priority for police.
The June arrests culminated a monthslong investigation. Flory was the first taken into custody; the others followed soon thereafter.
Detectives who raided Garcia’s UNM campus office found a briefcase full of sex toys, a cabinet containing more sex toys, 21 pornographic videos, nine sex books and a folder containing criminal statutes on prostitution, according to search warrant affidavits.
Albuquerque police officers also seized a computer, numerous electronic storage devices and three note pads containing information about prostitutes and Southwest Companions, according to the warrants.
Garcia’s attorney, David Serna, has raised questions about the legality of the search. Serna has also said the case against Garcia and the others might be flimsy, because it’s unclear whether any of them was making a profit off the site.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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