Police: Former Prosecutor Running Prostitution Ring

MINNEAPOLIS - Police say a former state prosecutor with polio was running a high class prostitution ring.

Investigators say a home in southeast Minneapolis was the alleged headquarters for a high class prostitution ring, called the Minnesota Nice Guys.

Police say the pimp is John St. Marie, a former state prosecutor, who is quadriplegic from polio.

Jim Dahlquist is St. Marie's attorney, and an old law school classmate.

Police say he hooks up a small group of 30 wealthy Minnesota men with $500 an hour prostitutes that he flies in from out of state. Police say St. Marie wasn't paid in cash; the women paid him with sex. And police say he ran the entire operation from the computer in his home.

Last month, the police sting went down at the Hotel Minneapolis. Eight clients showed up for a woman they knew as Natalia, who is now working for the cops.

The men all identified St. Marie as the pimp. They identified him as the man who screened them and the prostitutes.

The investigation began last august, at the University Radisson, where Minneapolis police busted a prominent Minnesota businessman with a prostitute.

For 28-years, St. Marie was an assistant Hennepin County attorney specializing in civil commitments of the mentally ill or chemical addicted.