The stooped old woman with the oxygen tank and the walker in Lindenwold, New Jersey, rarely left the apartment she shared with her grandson and his girlfriend. She was 80 years old and, according to the younger woman, had only one friend.
But the police said the woman, Vera Tursi, helped lonely men make new friends, by running an escort service called August Playmates. She took telephone calls from clients at her apartment and, depending on what they were in the mood for and who was available, sent escorts to meet them, the police said.
"It was her operation; it was her business," said Sergeant James Fish of the New Jersey State Police. "She's been in business for at least six months, probably longer."
Tursi was one of 42 people arrested by the state police last month in what investigators called "Operation Risky Business," involving several escort services. The arrests were announced on May 14, along with the seizing of more than US$51,000 in cash and a bank account worth US$20,000.
Tursi was born in 1925, when not only prostitution, but also selling drinks was illegal. How she came to run call girls from the apartment in Coachman Manor, a complex of low-income units, remains a mystery, Fish said. Her arrest was the subject of a long feature article in the Star-Ledger of Newark on Sunday.
"Her operation was a strictly outcall business," Fish said. "You make the call, you order the girl. She tells you who is available and you pick out the girl and tell them where to go."
August Playmates was listed on the Internet under "Personal Escort Services," "Escort Service-Personal," and "Miscellaneous Personal Services." Tursi was charged with promoting prostitution, a felony. A grand jury will consider evidence in the case, Fish said.
A woman who identified herself as the girlfriend of Tursi's grandson and gave only the name Josephine said the charges were false.
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