Published: Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Former owner of health spa sentenced in prostitution case
WARREN — Two men, including one who owned a Warren health spa, have been sentenced in transporting women across state lines for prostitution.
Skip Bedics, special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Philadelphia, said Robert Urquhart, 47, of Wayne, Pa., was sentenced Monday to one year and one day in federal prison for violating the federal Mann Act and conspiracy to evade taxes.
Urquhart, who owned the Bella Health Spa on Youngstown Road, was also fined $16,872 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. He will be on probation for three years after his release from prison.
One of Urquhart's partners, David Amos, 50, of Baltimore, was placed on five years' probation and fined $37,281.
Bedics said as part of the plea agreement, they will cooperate with the IRS to determine how much they owe in back taxes and penalties.
According to documents filed in the case, Urquhart and Amos were charged with conspiring to evade $800,000 in taxes.
According to the documents, they and others operated similar facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia and New York.
As part of the conspiracy, Urquhart and his partners had female employees of Bella Health Spa travel across state lines to perform sexual acts on customers in other "spas" Urquhart owned. Such activities are a violation of the Mann Act.
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