State: ‘Angels’ at UA-area brothel served bliss for $60 and up
by Luke Davis on Aug. 01, 2008, under Local, SpecialLawyer denies client ran prostitution ring; jury orders $2 million civil penalty
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office says a Tucson man may have been operating a brothel next to University Medical Center as long ago as 1998.
John LaVoie, 52, owner of Angel’s Heaven Relaxation Spa, 1740 E. Lester St., was ordered to pay nearly $2 million to the Attorney General’s Office Monday by a Maricopa County jury, Assistant Attorney General Alex Mahon said.
“(The civil verdict) will take away the means to continue in crime, giving the money to Arizona’s citizens,” Mahon said.
Angel’s Heaven is still operating, ostensibly as a massage parlor, but the state should acquire ownership of the property within 30 days, depending on an appeal, Mahon said.
It may be the reason LaVoie was targeted in the first place, his attorney, Brad Roach, said.
“The whole thing is suspicious because the police department and the Attorney General’s Office get a cut of the action,” Roach said.
Roach also points to acrimony between the University of Arizona and his client as another possible reason for the litigation.
According to Tucson Citizen records, in 1997 a UA petition for the property’s condemnation was denied. The university then agreed to buy LaVoie’s property for $525,000, but he dropped out of the deal.
During a three-week trial, jurors heard testimony from former Angel’s Heaven employees and customers who admitting to having sex in exchange for money.
Patrons gave money to the “Angel” of their choice, who turned it over to LaVoie, who then gave them back anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent, Mahon said.
According to the spa’s Web site, guests chose from a variety of female “specialists” with names like “Honey Angel,” “Oriental Angel” and “Little Angel.”
Prices ranged from about $60 for one “half hour of bliss” with one Angel to about $630 for “four hours of comfort” with two, according to the Web site.
More than 14,000 such sessions occurred between January 2001 and September 2004, Mahon said.
Jurors also heard from women LaVoie allegedly attempted to recruit into prostitution.
“When girls who had no idea what this place was came in to interview, he’d attempt to get them to perform sexually with him,”Mahon said.
“The thinking was that if he could overcome the girl’s resistance, they would probably have sex with a stranger,” Mahon said.
In addition to the spa, other endeavors included a lingerie line and Angel’s Heaven Studios, where girls would dress in lingerie and patrons could “take pictures of them in various states of undress, leading to sex,” Mahon said.
Neither of these was successful, Mahon said.
Neither were Jiffy Pay, Traders Club, Scrip Bank and the Church of Liberty – all businesses operated out of the Angel’s Heaven building and used for money laundering, Mahon said.
“Jiffy Pay would transfer credit card payments from Angel’s Heaven to banks in Las Vegas, which then put it into another account for (LaVoie),” he said.
“It served two purposes: money laundering, and if a wife gets a bill for her husband with Jiffy Pay on it, he can make up a story,” Mahon said.
Roach confirmed his client ran these businesses but said all of them are defunct. Roach said the operation was not a brothel but a “relaxation spa” that sells bath salts, scented oils and other items “just like other spas,” he said.
He said an appeal is likely.
“We are still weighing our options, but I’d say it is likely,” Roach said.
Public information officers for the Tucson Police Department, Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the University of Arizona Police Department said they have no active criminal investigations of LaVoie under way.
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On the Web
Angel’s Heaven Relaxation Spa Web site:
