(Credit: Carol E. Sandgren.)

A surprise development in the Gary Kimmel hooker scandal, the Marina City story that just keeps on giving. As reported in the Chicago Tribune (here and here), on Tuesday one 35-year-old Jody Spears was indicted in federal court on charges of sex trafficking involving minors as young as 14 years old. According to an FBI affidavit revealed in U.S. District Court, Spears is quoted as saying, “Some of my best girls were minors.” Spears is also identified as a “business partner” with none other than indicted Marina City dentist Gary S. Kimmel. Figure that, huh?

The indictment alleges that, after recruiting the young women and girls, Spears advertised their sexual services in newspapers and on the Web in Indiana, Tennessee, Nevada, and Hawaii, and physically abused them if they tried to leave his, er, employ. But the kicker is that Spears and one of the women allegedly in his harem lived for a year in a Marina City apartment owned by — ah you’re ahead of me now, aren’t you? — Gary S. Kimmel.

Faithful readers will recall Dr. Kimmel was indicted in January 2006 on charges that he took more than $400,000 in kickbacks allegedly to house a nationwide prostitution ring in several Marina City apartments he owned and to supply the ring with a fleet of luxury cars and free dental work. One witness quoted in the Spears indictment, a former employee in Kimmel’s dental office, identified Spears as having brought in several young women to get their teeth fixed.

Kimmel case watchers may also recall an “Individual A” identified as a pimp in the USDOJ complaint and indictment against Dr. Kimmel. A close reading of those documents appears to suggest that Spears is, indeed, “Individual A”, an associate of Robert Lewis Young, aka “Blue Diamond”, another alleged pimp identified in the Kimmel indictment. You can decide for yourself: find the full text of the Kimmel case complaint and indictment here.

Spears was arrested in Cleveland on July 14, and showed up in court yesterday without an attorney. Apparently, his assets were too large to qualify for a public defender. As a result, the case was continued to Thursday. Check the U.S. District Court docket under Judge Maria Valdez if you feel like attending the free theater that this scandal has become. The case number is 06 CR 519. It’s listed as “USA v. Suppressed” (as now is Kimmel’s case), but don’t let that fool you. That’s the only of Judge Valdez’s cases continued from Tuesday.

Kimmel pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him in January by the USDOJ and his case goes on. As for Spears, if I were him I’d worry. According to the Trib, the maximum penalty for child sex trafficking is life in prison. Hmm. I wonder if there’s a penalty for being the “business partner” of a child-prostitution ring pimp who’s facing life in prison?

I bet I know who else is wondering that question right now, too.

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[Browse the Gary Kimmel Scandal archives for more coverage of Marina City's infamous hooker scandal, including details of Dr. Kimmel's next court date.]

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