True To Her Word

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called "D.C. Madam" was found dead at her mother's home today in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The police said she hung herself in a shed.

She had been convicted by a federal jury of racketeering and money laundering after the nationwide escort service she was running out of her home in California got popped by the Postal Inspectors. The case achieved more notoriety than it would have otherwise due to the fact that her phone records revealed telephone calls from United States Senator David Vitter of Louisiana.

She was looking at a sentence of about 5 to 8 eight years most likely. She said she would never go to prison. Not even for one day.

She was true to her word.

I confess to having mixed emotions about this news. On the one hand, the justice system didn't kill her. She screwed up and got caught running a criminal enterprise that made her lots of money upon which she paid no taxes. At the time of her arrest the Postal Service seized $500,000. That's a lot of loose change.

Further, it's not like she was unknown to the system. A boyfriend got a restraining order on her once and she had a couple of priors for prostitution in Nevada and California. That probably would factor in on how much time she would have to catch.

Still, no elderly woman should find her daughter with a rope around her neck.

The law is the law. I know this.

But still. It's not like she killed anybody.

It's sad.