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05/14/2008 12:17 PM

Accused Call Girl Booker Pleads Guilty

By: NY1 News

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The woman accused of being a booker for the prostitution ring that ended former Governor Eliot Spitzer's political career entered a guilty plea Wednesday morning.

Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to promoting prostitution and money laundering charges.

She faces a maximum of 25 years in jail when she is sentenced on August 6.

As part of her plea deal, Lewis agreed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the prostitution ring -- meaning she could be called to testify against Spitzer, if he faces criminal charges.

She was one of four people charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws in connection with the Emperors Club VIP, a million-dollar prostitution ring that prosecutors say arranged trysts between clients and prostitutes in cities across the country and around the world.

Prosecutors say Lewis helped book clients. She worked for Emperors Club VIP for nearly three years, and got the job answering an ad in a newspaper.

"She just wants to get it behind her," said her attorney Marc Agnifilo. "She took a big step in doing that today. She's going to try to lay low. I don't think she'll ever find herself in trouble again, and she's not one to have any. She was caught doing something. She technically broke the law by what she was doing, and she admitted her complicity."

"She never thought that she would be sitting in a federal courthouse," continued Agnifilo. "There is nothing in her background that would have let her to the conclusion that she'd be here one day."

Court papers say the FBI secretly recorded conversations between Lewis and the former governor in February, about a tryst in Washington with a prostitute named "Kristen." "Kristen" was later identified as a Manhattan resident named Ashley Dupre. She has not been charged.

Agnifilo would not say if Lewis knew Spitzer was the governor while she was arranging his trysts.

Spitzer, who's identified in the court papers as Client No. 9, has not been charged. He announced his resignation as governor on March 12.