Two women are facing charges of prostitution and related offenses after police raided an alleged brothel in a Drexel Hill neighborhood.
"It's a quality of life crime, is what it is. It destroys the quality of a neighborhood," Upper Darby Police Superintendant Michael Chitwood told NBC Philadelphia. "It's like drug dealing, you have people coming in, driving in, you don't know who they are."
Police say that Margaret Danielle Dougherty, 41, of the 2200 block of Ardmore Avenue advertised massages “by a voluptuous young woman” on the Internet, reports The Delaware County Daily Times.
Posing as a customer, an undercover Upper Darby police officer went to Dougherty’s home on Sept. 16, paid her the pre-determined amount of $180 to receive a massage by Amy Prudish, 38, and was led to a bedroom on the second floor, according to police.
“During the massage Amy asked the undercover officer if he wanted anything else, noting a variety of sexual activity was proposed in exchange for a generous tip,” Chitwood told The Daily Times.
The officer returned the next day and was asked by Amy to leave a tip on the table for sex, say police.
Both the Dougherty and Prudish were taken into custody. Cops also confiscated three guns, ledgers, a journal, cash, condoms and a laptop, according to the paper.
“It was a fairly sophisticated operation. She [Dougherty] had a good client base that arrived during the day when her…child was in school,” said Chitwood to The Times.
Bail on the alleged madam is set at 10 percent of $50K and on the alleged prostitute at 10 percent of $20K.
