A physics professor at a New Jersey university was arrested Sunday in an Albuquerque Starbucks and charged with running a prostitution website involving about 200 women and more than 1,200 johns. David Flory, who resides in NYC and teaches at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, allegedly ran the website "Southwest Companions," which investigators say connected men with prostitutes. North Jersey.com reports Flory told cops he didn't make any money off the website, but merely ran it as a hobby, to provide "a safe place for guys to find female prostitutes." Albuquerque police Lt. William Roseman explained how the website operated:
Users were split into three categories, and first-time visitors had to first gain the trust of Flory before gaining any access. Ordinarily this was done, Roseman said, 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.
After that process, users were designated as “Verified,” gaining access to a wider circle of women to choose from, Roseman said. If users became more frequent customers, their status was increased to “Trusted,” which gave them access to more women and more portions of the website, including message boards explaining how to avoid the police, Roseman said.
The website came to the attention of New Mexico investigators through several prostitute informants. Flory, who owns a vacation home in Santa Fe, allegedly managed all aspects of the site and approved all members. He's charged with 40 counts of promoting prostitution and is being held on $100,000 bail. In a statement, a spokesperson for the University said, "Our hearts go out to all of those impacted by the situation." For now, Flory has not been dismissed, but the university is cooperating with the investigation into his hobby.
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