South Bay prostitution guru back behind bars

Controversial adult entertainment guru David Elms , last known to be living in Torrance and Hawthorne, is a wanted man in two states.

Elms , who founded and ran an online prostitution rating service, was on probation for drugs and weapons convictions stemming from a 2006 arrest at a Manhattan Beach hotel when he was arrested last month in Phoenix.

The 37-year-old allegedly attempted to hire undercover officers there to kill a prostitute, who has a lawsuit against him, and hurt another man. But he was only charged in Maricopa County Superior Court with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and drug weapon possession charges.

Out on $150,000 bail, Elms failed to appear at two hearings scheduled earlier this month. A judge signed a bench warrant for his arrest and raised his bond to $300,000.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Torrance are preparing to ask for his rearrest for violating terms of his probation by traveling out of the state and failing to stay out of trouble.

Elms launched TheEroticReview.com in 1999 as a place for prostitutes and their customers to share information, write reviews and correspond.

The site attracts up to 1 million visitors a month, according to an article last year in the New York Times in which someone called Elms "the most influential man in the prostitution business in America."

Although The Erotic Review issued a press release on March 3 saying the Netherlands-based company has "parted ways" with Elms , many think the two entities are one and the same. Included in that list is the target of the would-be contract killing, who sued Elms last year.

The 32-year-old woman, who sued for copyright infringement under the name "Jane Doe" to protect her identity, claims Elms launched an online attack on her by reproducing photographs from her Web site on one of his own.

Elms ' site revealed the woman's true name, address and purported lies about herself to eliminate her as a competitor, according to her lawsuit.

" Elms directed his anger and vengeance at Doe because she refused to engage in sexual intercourse with him and because Doe refused to allow her name to be published on a Web site he controls," the suit states.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Fattorosi, claims Elms ruined the woman's life by revealing to her father that she worked as an escort and sending strange men to her residence.

Other women have shared similar complaints against Elms , Fattorosi said.

"I have had other women contacting me, reiterating how he has attempted to cajole, strong arm and even rape women in regards to getting them to perform service for him in order to keep their reviews up on The Erotic Review," Fattorosi said in an interview.

A prostitute's financial success can be directly related to how she is presented on The Erotic Review, Fattorosi said the women told him.

Elms ' current civil attorney, Brandon Block, has filed a motion to be relieved as Elms ' lawyer, citing unpaid legal bills. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for April 9.

Block declined to comment.

Locally, it was a problem with a prostitute that led to Elms ' arrest at the Hawthorn Suites hotel in Manhattan Beach on Feb. 11, 2006, according to police.

A woman who ran out of the room when officers arrived told detectives she was a prostitute Elms picked up in South Los Angeles, according to Detective Matt Sabosky.

They agreed he would pay her $100 for sex, she said, and they went to the hotel, where Elms smoked rock cocaine, Sabosky said.

At some point, he took a gun out of his bag. She ran and he ordered her to take off her clothes. With the gun in his hand, he ordered her to orally copulate him, and she complied until the police knocked, she said.

However, Elms told police that, after spending the entire day with a different prostitute because his wife has medical problems that make her unable to have sex, he picked up this prostitute on his way home, Sabosky said.

She helped him buy some cocaine and he cooked the powder into a rock in the hotel microwave, Elms told the police.

He said he agreed to pay $100 for oral sex, but she kept trying to upsell him and they got into a fight, during which she grabbed a handful of his cash, Sabosky said.

Elms said he took out his gun because she called people on her cell phone telling them to come to the hotel. He said she screamed when she saw it.

Elms , who lived in Hawthorne at the time, was arrested and charged with gun and drug possession.

In September 2006, he pleaded no contest in exchange for a suspended four-year prison term and three years probation, said Deputy District Attorney Jodi Link.

After at least five failed drug tests, he admitted he was in violation of his probation in July.

According to court records, Elms was placed back on probation and ordered to spend a year in a live-in drug rehabilitation facility - although prosecutors wanted him to go to prison for four years.

Link said he has absconded from treatment, left the state and was arrested again - all possible probation violations.

Elms was arrested in Phoenix after police there got a tip from an informant and arranged an undercover meeting with him on Feb. 15, according to Detective Ray Egea.

During the meeting, Elms allegedly told officers he was having trouble with a prostitute who was suing him and said he may want her hurt or killed - depending on how the court case played out, Egea said.

He also mentioned a 62-year-

old man who ran a competing Web site and asked to have him injured, Egea said.

Elms inquired about buying a gun, and he was arrested when he bought a half-ounce of crack cocaine from the officers, according to Egea.

Although he was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a homicide, prosecutors did not file any such charge against him.

Attempts to reach Elms ' attorney, Shepard Kopp, were unsuccessful.

denise.nix@dailybreeze.com