People v. Ambrose

Opinion

WIENER, J.

Defendant Kenneth Robert Ambrose appeals his conviction on five counts of pimping (Pen. Code, § 266h)

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and one count of pandering (§ 266i). He makes contentions of various evidentiary and instructional errors. We reject those contentions and affirm the judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

In January 1983 Ambrose began operating Aries Outcall, ostensibly an outcall massage and escort service. Persons contacting Aries by telephone were screened either by Ambrose or other employees and their phone numbers were taken. These numbers were then referred to women employed by Aries who would independently contact the customer and arrange to go to his location. Customers were allowed to charge a $60 “agency fee” and “tips” on Master Card, Visa or American Express credit cards. If the customer used a charge card, an 18 percent surcharge was added. Ambrose laundered all credit card charges through a framing company in exchange for the 18 percent.

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On four occasions between February and May 1983 police officers posing as customers phoned Aries, were screened, and received return calls from women employed by Aries. In each case, the officer was charged the $60 “agency fee,” which went to Ambrose, and “tips” ranging from $80 to $160, which were retained by the woman. The women each explained to the officers which sex acts they would and would not perform in exchange for the tips after which they were arrested.

The thrust of Ambrose’s defense was that he was unaware his employees were engaging in sex for money. Nonetheless, several of Aries’ female employees admitted to having performed numerous sexual acts in the course of their employment and described circumstances from which Ambrose’s knowledge of their conduct could be inferred. Wendy McQuillen testified that during approximately 5 months of work for Aries she made nearly 20 calls per week and engaged in sexual acts on 80 to 90 percent of those calls.

Gloria Ward helped Ambrose run the business in addition to making outcalls herself. She testified that Ambrose referred to Aries’ customers as “tricks” and his employees as “whores” and that he made comments indicating that he knew the employees were engaging in sexual acts.