Deborah Jeane Palfrey
| Deborah Jeane Palfrey | |
|---|---|
Palfrey at a court hearing, on April 30, 2007
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| Born |
March 18, 1956 North Charleroi, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 1, 2008 (aged 52) Tarpon Springs, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Other names | D.C. Madam |
| Alma mater | Rollins College |
Deborah Jeane Palfrey (March 18, 1956 – May 1, 2008) (dubbed the D.C. Madam by the news media) operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she maintained that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008 of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering. Slightly over two weeks later, facing a prison sentence of five or six years, she was found hanged. Autopsy results and the final police investigative report concluded that her death was a suicide.
Palfrey was born in the Pittsburgh area town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, but spent her teens in Orlando, Florida. Her father was a grocer. She graduated from Rollins College with a degree in criminal justice, and completed a nine-month legal course at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Working as a paralegal in San Diego, California, she became involved in the escort business. Dismayed at how most services were run, including widespread drug abuse, she started her own company recruiting mostly women over 25. In 1990, she was arrested on charges of pimping, pandering and extortion; after fleeing to Montana she was captured while trying to cross the Canada–US border and brought back for trial. Following her conviction in 1992 she spent 18 months in prison. After her release, she founded Pamela Martin and Associates.
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