Desert Divas

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Desert Divas was run by a man named Paul Nichta, from Paradise Valley, Arizona. He hired out escorts primarily through a number of web sites. These included Desert Divas, AZ Confidential, Hips Tour and Escorts in Action. Paul’s business, and thus his stable of girls, extended into New Mexico and even Pennsylvania. The ring really had no official name, but because it was based in the desert city of Phoenix, the name Desert Divas from one of the web sites became the one most used by the media and police.

This prostitution ring set a number of records. Desert Divas was the subject of the largest prostitution investigation in Arizona history. As of August 2008 there were 50 people charged including Nichta, many of the prostitutes, and clients who were mostly from out of town. Police seized three homes, a motorcycle and eight other vehicles. Those will bring some money to the state through auctions. Speaking about money, most of the escorts in this ring earned between $2,000 and $15,000 a night. That larger amount was possible in the form of tips.

The girls of Desert Divas weren’t all the sort of young runaways people think about when they hear of prostitutes. They ranged in age from 18 to 40. It seemed women from all walks of life became in the activities of this business which included escort services, dating services, pornography and live web cameras via their various web sites. There were even exclusive monthly membership sites where viewers could see live sex shows.

Indictments came in September for three men, including Paul Nichta, who ran Desert Divas. There were charges filed in both Arizona and New Mexico. Charges included racketeering, which is nothing more than the operation of an illegal business, in this case prostitution. It turns out many of the girls, including seven college girls, were recruited via ads in college newspapers. It would start out with the web cams and legitimate dating services before moving to pornography and paid sexual services.

There’s another Desert Diva out there. A woman from Arizona has begun a service touting herself as the Desert Diva Assistant, a virtual personal assistant that conducts a variety of business tasks. She was caught up in the prostitution situation when people confused her name and web site with the now famous case. She received many harassing emails, including from so-called attorneys who claimed to be suing the government for stealing a cat.

The world gets weirder and weirder. Desert Divas, the famous desert prostitution ring, proves it.

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