Pair Guilty Of Running House Of Ill Repute
February 12, 1985 | By Diane M. Goldie, Staff Writer
Charlayne Grenci, professionally known as “Mistress Carla, the Queen of Domination,“ and her associate, Jean Morgan, pleaded guilty Monday to charges they ran a house of ill repute.Morgan, 60, who scheduled Grenci`s $250-an-hour torture sessions at 160 NE 19th St., Pompano Beach, was sentenced to 18 months` probation.
Broward Circuit Judge Leroy Moe ordered a background check on Grenci and set her sentencing for March 28.
Under terms of the plea agreement, Moe can send Grenci to the county jail for a maximum of 90 days, place her on five years` probation and judge her guilty, which will leave her with a permanent criminal record.
Grenci, 36, was advised by her attorney, Bruce Randall, not to comment on the case.
“This was just a plea of convenience,“ Randall said. “They`re admitting to the charges and that they did it, but it`s just for their own convenience. The first trial was a real traumatic experience for them and they don`t want to go through that again.“
But Assistant State Attorney Ronald D`Anna said he “was pleased that they accepted the plea. I think it is appropriate because she`s out of business and the implements she used are out of her reach.“
After more than a week of testimony in mid-October, Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet declared a mistrial. In December, he reluctantly withdrew from the case because Grenci claimed she could not get a fair trial in his courtroom.
At the time, Fleet said Grenci was less concerned about getting a fair trial than in devising “a thinly veiled scheme“ to get a judge who would give her a probationary penalty. Fleet promised her prison if she were convicted or pleaded guilty to the charges.
Although jail time is part of the most recent negotiations, Randall said the 90-day maximum jail term made the offer more appealing.
Grenci and Morgan were accused of operating a highly profitiable dominatrix business out of the Pompano Beach home for three years. Police seized whips, chains, hoods, dog collars, a rack, lewd photographs and an array of sexual paraphernalia from the dungeon Grenci and Morgan designed in a garage.
While domination is not outlawed, the prosecution contended that Grenci had sex with some of her clients in addition to the torture sessions. Grenci argued she was not a prostitute and merely helped clients relax by dominating them and making them feel like slaves.
The public`s lack of understanding of domination would make it difficult for the defendants to get a fair trial, they argued.
“I don`t understand why I have to be the whipping boy, the scapegoat, of the criminal justice system,“ Grenci said.The pair, who have no criminal history, were initially charged with two counts of living off the earnings of a prostitute, two counts of keeping a house of ill fame and allowing prostitution to take place in their home. Since their arrest in 1983, the state dropped all but two counts of operating a house of ill fame, one of which was dropped Monday.
`Mistress Carla` Gets 90-day Jail Term
March 29, 1985 | By Mary Anderson, Staff Writer
Charleyne Grenci, a Pompano Beach woman who promoted herself as “Mistress Carla, the Queen of Domination,“ was sentenced to 90 days in jail Thursday as part of a five-year probationary sentence for keeping a house of ill fame.
Grenci also must serve 500 hours of community service and pay $1,500 in restitution for the state`s investigative costs.
Grenci, 36, had pleaded no contest to the charge, while prosecutors dropped a related prostitution charge.
Bruce Randall, Grenci`s attorney, said it was a plea of “convenience“ and not an admission of guilt, but his client`s record will show a formal felony conviction.
Grenci objected to the jail sentence, but Circuit Judge Leroy H. Moe was not dissuaded.
“The thing that gets me about the whole situation is, the defendant is complaining there may be some pain involved in going to jail, but circumstances indicate she is a master at inflicting pain. She`s dishing out what she can`t take,“ Moe said.
Since her January 1984 arrest, Grenci repeatedly claimed she was not a prostitute. She said she helped clients relax by physically dominating them and making them feel like slaves.
Grenci`s trial in October ended in a mistrial when Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet decided he had been mistaken in allowing jurors to see all the paraphernalia seized from her home. The items included whips, chains, racks and leather goods taken from her garage in the 100 block of Northeast 19th Street.“
“Most people don`t understand the practice of domination yet,“ Grenci told Moe Thursday. “I want to say, I am not a sadist . . . the people that came to me . . . Nothing was done against their will. I was always conscientious of their limits. I was always alert not to hurt anybody.
“In my mind, there was nothing wrong with it,“ she said.
But the judge, who saw photographs seized from Grenci`s home of clients with reddened areas on their bodies, said, “I`m not buying any excuses or rationalizations.
“I`m not here to say whether this kind of behavior should be condoned. This kind of behavior is against the law. It not only appeals to, but reinforces, the most negative aspects of someone`s personality, and how it could be beneficial is beyond me,“ Moe said.