I'm in the State Capitol on a business trip. Dave calls me on the phone to let me know that a picture of our neighbor's house is in the paper. Seriously, this house is located 2 doors down from ours. I thought we had met all the neighbors but obviously I was wrong. Meet our neighbor:
Escondido a quiet corner of 'D.C. Madam's' life By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer
ESCONDIDO -- Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman recently accused by federal prosecutors of running a Washington, D.C., prostitution business by phone from California, owns a house in Escondido, but her neighbors said last week that it provided her a quiet refuge, rather than a remote command post.
Palfrey, also dubbed the "D.C. Madam," revealed some of her clients' identities on a much-hyped 20/20 show on ABC on Friday night.
Palfrey's next-door neighbor at her house, north of the Escondido Country Club, Lea Beaver, estimated that Palfrey visited her Escondido house only a few days each month. Beaver said she didn't notice an unusual amount of traffic.
Palfrey once invited Beaver over when Palfrey's mother, Blanche, was visiting, she said.
"She said she was an interior designer," said Beaver, adding that the idea made sense to her because each room inside Palfrey's house was painted a different pastel color.
A federal grand jury indicted Palfrey in March on money-laundering charges connected with her alleged escort service. She previously pleaded guilty to pimping charges in the early 1990s in San Diego.
Court documents support neighbors' views that Palfrey did not use the Escondido house, which is now for sale, as part of her business, called Pamela Martin and Associates. The business is described on Palfrey's Web site as a "high-end adult fantasy firm" that operated in the Washington, D.C., area for 13 years.
Court documents show that federal agents hauled stacks of financial records and a computer from Palfrey's primary residence in Vallejo after obtaining search warrants in October.
But they did not obtain search warrants for her home on the 1400 block of Vaquero Glen.
Her indictment says she had checks or money orders mailed to her at a post office box in Benicia, and had calls forwarded to her cell phone.
Her attorney, Montgomery Sibley, did not return calls from the North County Times.
Raccoons
Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias resigned in April when ABC News, to whom Palfrey has given her phone records, asked him whether he was a client.
While other past clients in Washington may fear more revelations from Palfrey, several of her Escondido neighbors had a more mundane concern last week: Raccoons have dug a hole in her shingle roof.
"We covered it today with plastic," Beaver said.
The neighborhood around Vaquero Glen seemed idyllic last week, with a few children riding their bicycles and skateboards in the street.
Palfrey's house has a "For Sale" sign in front, but all of the real estate agent's brochures are gone. The driveway, which is covered with brown fluff from a nearby tree, makes it clear that nobody has swept it for weeks.
As part of her indictment in March, federal authorities froze the Vaquero Glen house along with Palfrey's Vallejo home, bank accounts and gold coins. The move requires court approval for a sale and prevents the sale of the Escondido house from benefiting Palfrey while she is under indictment.
Even so, Beaver said a real estate agent has been showing the house to possible buyers and one in particular seems interested.
Vaquero Glen residents said they learned of Palfrey's legal troubles when a property forfeiture notice was posted on her door in October.
"It was a pretty big surprise," said Ann Boozer, who lives next door to her on the other side.
But she said she had a clue something was happening in September when she called Palfrey about a gardening issue and Palfrey told her that her real estate agent would handle it, because she was moving to Germany.
Palfrey made a brief visit to the Escondido house a few months ago with a tow truck, Boozer said.
Palfrey's lawyers, in federal court filings, say that she has left the United States twice since October.
Several neighbors said they had been interviewed by TV reporters on their front lawns and were tired of the attention.
Palfrey bought the Escondido house in 2000. It still has a mortgage and its most recent property tax bill has not been paid, according to county records.
Palfrey grew up in Pennsylvania, attended college in Florida and moved to San Diego in the 1980s, according to The Associated Press.
She previously owned a condominium on Mount Alifan Drive near Genesee Avenue in San Diego, according to county records.
She was arrested by San Diego police in 1990 on charges of pimping, pandering and extortion. She did not appear at trial but fled to the Canadian border before pleading guilty to pimping charges in 1992 in San Diego Superior Court and serving 18 months in prison, according to The Associated Press.
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