By Clarke Canfield,Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND – A Maine lawyer and former member of the Kittery Town Council was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for operating a brothel and conspiring to launder millions of dollars in profits.

Gary Reiner, 55, maintained his innocence when addressing Judge D. Brock Hornby in federal court. But Hornby said Reiner was deluding himself and called it a “bleak day” when a lawyer and pillar of the community is sent to prison.

Without Reiner, the Danish Health Club would have fallen apart as a business instead of employing dozens of prostitutes that attracted customers from throughout New England, Hornby said.

“Gary Reiner held it together when Gary Reiner should have walked away,” the judge said.

Reiner was the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced in connection with the club, which earned millions of dollars as a brothel while fronting as a legitimate health club and massage parlor in Kittery. Reiner’s attorney said he plans to appeal.

Prosecutors argued that Reiner played an instrumental role in running the business by negotiating ads, managing employees and ensuring it was properly licensed. He was convicted in September.

Since his arrest, Reiner has maintained his innocence. In a 30-minute speech to Hornby on Tuesday, he admitted he had suspicions that there were illegal goings-on at the club, but had no hard evidence.

Customers paid $70 to get into the club and use its sauna, steambath, whirlpool and lounge with a wide-screen TV, he said. Another $80 would buy a massage.

The club ran ads with provocative photos of women, but Reiner told Hornby that using sex as a marketing tool is ubiquitous in American culture. TV commercials routinely use sex as a selling point, he said, and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue features scantily clad women.

But he said he didn’t know that prostitution was taking place, and said the club would have continued operating whether or not he was around.

“If I had known it, I would have done something about it,” he said.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 97 months, far above the sentencing guideline range of 51 to 63 months. Reiner’s attorney asked for a sentence of one day in jail followed by 364 days of house arrest.

Prosecutor Todd Lowell said a longer sentence was warranted because of Reiner’s leadership role at the business and the use of a minor at the brothel. Reiner also lied during testimony at his trial, Lowell said.

Defense attorney Steve Gordon said a sentence in line with those of the club’s bookkeeper and its manager was more appropriate.

Mary Ann Manzoli, 65, the club’s bookkeeper, was sentenced in December to a year of home confinement for laundering millions of dollars in profits from the club. The club’s manager, Russell Pallas, was sentenced to six months for inducing women to cross state lines to engage in prostitution.

Gordon acknowledged that Hornby was being presented with two pictures of Reiner: One as the operator of a house of prostitution, and one as an upstanding citizen, a devoted family man and a friend to those in need.

“Maybe the court is asking, who is Mr. Reiner?” Gordon said.

In addition to a five-year sentence, Reiner was fined $10,000 and will be placed under three years of supervision upon his release. He was also ordered to forfeit assets in his and his wife’s name to satisfy a forfeiture order for $3.9 million of illegal profits from the club.

Of that amount, Manzoli has already paid nearly $2.2 million, Lowell said. If she pays off the remainder of her obligation, Reiner will be on the hook for just over $900,000.

Reiner has been free on bail since his conviction, but Hornby said the time has come for the punishment to begin. “This is not a day when we celebrate the good parts of Gary Reiner’s character,” Hornby said.

Reiner was handcuffed in court and led away. Family members and friends who were in court had no comment as they left the courthouse.

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