Another educated idiot runs afoul of the law. Physics professor and pimp – that’s a rather odd combination.
COPS BUST NJ PROFESSOR’S WEB PROSTITUTION RING
Police arrested the professor, who used his university e-mail to create the site
By Andrea Alexander and Marlene Naanes
The Herald News
June 22, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Fairleigh Dickinson University e-mail address provided police in New Mexico with an important clue that exposed the alleged double life of a physics professor charged with running a virtual house of prostitution though a website with 1,400 members.
David C. Flory, 68, of New York City, who teaches on the FDU-Metropolitan campus in Teaneck, remained in police custody on Tuesday in Albuquerque, N.M., with bail set at $100,000, said Lt. William Roseman of the Albuquerque police. He was arrested Sunday while sitting in a Starbucks and was charged with 40 counts of promoting prostitution.
Authorities knew Flory would be in the area because they had been monitoring postings and discussions on his website, Southwest Companions, Roseman said. About 45 minutes after Flory was taken into custody, police in New York and Teaneck executed search warrants at his home and FDU office to confiscate computer equipment. Authorities plan to send the equipment to an FBI computer forensic lab for review, Roseman said.
Flory's wife, Sharon, declined to comment when reached at her home in New York on Tuesday.
A copy of the New Mexico arrest warrant obtained by The Record on Tuesday and interviews with Albuquerque law enforcement officials provided vivid details of the investigation that led to Flory's arrest.
Flory told police he created the site not to make money but as a "hobby" to provide a venue "for prostitutes and johns so they wouldn't have to worry about being busted by law enforcement," Roseman said.
Flory believed the site was secure. He created three levels of membership and had to approve new users. Flory even chided one prostitute for being too explicit in her advertisement and advised her to use initialisms for sex acts.
"He wanted to avoid being caught in any search engines," Roseman said.
But despite Flory's efforts to keep the site private and hidden from police, authorities had been tracking him for the last six months.
Police were tipped off to the existence of the website through prostitutes and johns who cooperated with investigators to avoid arrest, Roseman said. He said most of the site's users were from the Albuquerque area, though some were from Denver and Phoenix. Flory owned a vacation home in Santa Fe, N.M.
In December, an Albuquerque police officer created a profile on the site with the help of an informant. Police said gaining Flory's trust ordinarily was done by "sleeping with a prostitute." The prostitute would then report to Flory what sexual acts the two had engaged in, as well as how much money was exchanged.
The woman working with police sent the webmaster an e-mail to vouch for the officer so he could gain further access to the site. The webmaster went by the handle David8 and used an e-mail domain of DCF8.org, which matched Flory's initials and was one of the clues mentioned in the warrant.
Police monitored the site for several months. The investigation led to the arrest of an unknown number of prostitutes, and authorities are reviewing Flory's computers to try to obtain the identity of other users of the site, Roseman said.
Authorities established that Flory had hands-on involvement with the site. He took down an advertisement he believed was too graphic and told the prostitute to rewrite it, according to the arrest warrant. He posted tips on how not to get caught and removed profiles of people who had been arrested or were suspected of working with police, the document says.
On May 31, police subpoenaed records from GoDaddy.com, which registered the domain for the website. A few weeks later, police learned that a David Flory of New York owned the website, according to the arrest warrant. Flory used his university e-mail address to start the site, which helped police identify him, Roseman said.
"It was another piece of the puzzle that removed any doubt about who he was," he said.
In a statement, FDU spokeswoman Dina Schipper said that the university "was concerned about these serious charges."
"Since becoming aware of the arrest, the university has cooperated with law enforcement authorities as they seek to gain the most accurate information as part of their ongoing investigation in New Mexico," Schipper said.
She added that Flory's job status "is currently under review in accordance with established university policies." Flory joined the FDU faculty in 1969 and was named professor of physics in 1980, according to the school's website.
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