Defense motions filed in Biggs Drive massage parlor case

On Friday, May 17, just two days after her arrest the attorney for a woman facing multiple charges related to an alleged prostitution operation being run out of a massage parlor at 312 Biggs Drive in Front Royal has filed Discovery Motions on his client’s behalf. Cynthia Atkinson Bailey attorney David Downes also questioned whether dates referenced in the complaint against his client might indicate a one-year statute of limitations on at least some charges may have expired.

Later on Friday Downes issued a press release in which he called his client’s prosecution “retaliatory” and “selective” due to her assertion to authorities that she would plead her Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate if asked to testify regarding clients, one in particular (see related story).

Bailey, 55, was arrested by Front Royal Police along with three other people on May 15, and charged with maintaining a “bawdy (defined as gross, indecent or overly graphic) place”, receiving money from earnings of prostitution, prostitution, and cruelty to children. According to the felony warrant the latter charge involved the presence of a juvenile in the residence who “answered phone calls, arranged appointments and walked clients to the rooms.”

Also arrested on similar or related charges were Brandy Nicole Atkinson, Jesse Thomas Atkinson and Joshua Allan Stamper. According to Bailey attorney Downes, Brandy and Jesse Atkinson are his client’s daughter and son and Stamper is her son-in-law. The referenced juvenile may be a grandchild.

Courtesy Photos FRPD/Regional Jail System

According to an FRPD press release issued on May 16, coincidentally Cynthia Bailey’s 55th birthday, the arrests were the result of an ongoing investigation that began in late January of 2018.
It appears that investigation also resulted in the charge of solicitation of prostitution against former Front Royal Mayor Hollis Tharpe. Tharpe’s April 15, 2019 Grand Jury indictment, perhaps ironically signed by Tharpe’s old political adversary Matthew Tederick as grand jury foreman, references a May 31, 2018 incident in which Tharpe allegedly offered “money or its equivalent to another for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts … and thereafter did a substantial act in furtherance thereof against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth …”

Bailey was initially arrested one week after the referenced Tharpe massage parlor incident, on June 7, 2018 on a charge of prostitution. That charge was dropped by the commonwealth on October 2, 2018.

Tharpe has identified Biggs Drive to this reporter as the location of the massage parlor involved in the charge against him. While maintaining his innocence, Tharpe initially placed himself on administrative leave the day the indictment was handed out. Then four days later on April 19, Tharpe announced his resignation effective May 2. In both his leave and resignation decisions, Tharpe expressed a desire not to create an undue distraction to the conduct of town government business while the prosecution is hanging over his head.

As press releases fly, plot thickens in Tharpe sex solicitation case

In fact, Bailey’s June 7, 2018 arrest for prostitution plays into defense counsel Downes’ motions filing for his client regarding the Statute of Limitations issue. Citing a one-year statute of limitations related to at least some of the charges, defense counsel notes the current charges filed on May 15, 2019, cite activities occurring between May 1 and June 7, 2018.

“Where the alleged offenses, in part, supposedly occurred two weeks after … the expiration of the statute of limitations, does the Court bar the prosecution of all or some of the Commonwealth’s case?” Downes asks, presenting two possible courses of action.

“If the Commonwealth were to amend the warrants to reflect that the offense occurred on or about May 15, 2018 to June 7, 2018, that would be in compliance with Virginia Code § 19.2-8. However, if the warrant of arrest was filed in good faith and the affiant, Detective D. L. Fogle, was unable to more precisely identify when the illegal conduct occurred, than the entire prosecution should be barred without probable cause to believe that the subject offenses occurred within the one-year statute of limitations.”

Downes may see the writing on the wall, or more precisely in the Criminal Complaint tied to Bailey’s felony warrant of receiving money “from the earnings of a person engaged in prostitution.” The complaint specifies the visit of undercover operative to the massage parlor on June 7, 2018.

So were the statute of limitations issue resolved as Downes predicts it could be, he continues to request Discovery regarding the allegations against his client, including her receiving earnings from prostitution from others; as well as raising the possibility his client is facing unconstitutional double jeopardy in being charged a second time for the same offenses leading to her initial indictment last year.

“Without identifying the specific date, or dates, that the Defendant is alleged to have committed these offenses, the Commonwealth may be unconstitutionally subjecting the Defendant to multiple punishments for the same offense,” Downes writes of the vagueness of the “on or about May 1 to June 7, 2018” timeframe cited in the warrant and her June 7, 2018 arrest.

The Criminal Complaint attached to the May 15, 2019 warrant describes Bailey and Brandy Atkinson meeting an undercover operative who was given “a menu that laid out prices and services” for hand massages by “a topless and/or panties only” masseuse “which included a ‘happy ending’.” The undercover operative then asked about “additional sexual activities such as oral sex” leading to a $150 price offer involving both women, the complaint states.

“Once the terms were established and agreed upon units converged on the residence,” the complaint describes how the police operation of June 7, 2018 concluded.

The involvement of the men charged is explained as providing security for the massage parlor operation and it is noted in parentheses “Joshua drove Brandy to the appointment on 6/07/19” though the year appears to be a typo since that date has yet to occur unless you have a time machine like famed British TV character Dr. Who’s TARDIS.

It is elaborated in the criminal complaint that Jesse Atkinson used the Biggs Drive address to obtain a business license for a “handyman/landscaping service” under the name Blue Valley Services.

That business license expired in 2017 but according to the Criminal Complaint the massage parlor advertised its services at various online sites at the Blue Valley Services business address.

“During the investigation several ads were located on Craigslist and Facebook pertaining to the massage parlor. During the investigation it was revealed that additional activities were taking place at the ‘massage parlor’,” the complaint states. One hint may have been an employment post on Craigslist noting, “Let’s face it, if you are young and pretty you will make more money here.”