Tracy Elise via Facebook. Tracy Elise, a "priestess'' convicted of running a tantric sex brothel argued to the end that she was the victim of religious persecution similar to the Inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials. During her sentencing hearing on Thursday, the year-old mother of three insisted she is a sexual healer and not a brothel madam.
Nevertheless, district attorney Stephen Leiter compared Elise to a street pimp who lured broken and sexually abused women into prostitution by falsely telling them that the temple's activities were legal.
What was going on at the Phoenix Goddess Temple was Miss Elise's way to work around the prostitution law. Elise sung the "Star-Spangled Banner" moments before she was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and four years probation by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens, who also gave her credit for days of time served. Wade, Elise's other children Sylvia and Daniel , and many of her supporters argued that she has no prior criminal record and there were no true victims in the case.
Leiter described Elise as "a very charismatic person'' who manipulated weaker women into becoming her 'Goddesses,' who actually performed the sex acts on men. Court documents detailed how many of these women took plea bargains resulting in light sentences such as one year's probation, and Elise said those who testified against her had their charges dropped from felonies to misdemeanors.
Leiter also said there was evidence of rapes occurring and drug sales at the Temple, although there were no such charges filed and Elise said there were only a few disagreements about sexual boundaries that eventually were worked out. Elise was enraged by Leiter's comments and quickly launched a long, rambling rebuttal. Beseeching "Mother, Earth, Father, Sky,'' Elise referred to her third eye, a mark on her forehead, and said, "I promise that my energy will rise in my body and I will see things the way God sees it.
