Pair Claiming to Run Church Are Charged With Prostitution

A Canyon Country husband and wife who say they operate a church in which sexual acts are part of the religious services have been charged with operating a house of prostitution, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office reported Thursday.

Will Tracy, 51, and Mary Ellen Tracy, 46, were charged Tuesday with the offense, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a fine of $1,000, said Deputy City Atty. Alice Hand. Mary Ellen Tracy also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of prostitution.

The Tracys operate the Church of the Most High Goddess, in which Mary Ellen Tracy carries the title of high priestess, in a house in West Los Angeles.

The Tracys claim they operate a legitimate church in which high priestesses absolve the sins of male followers through intercourse in sexual religious rites that they say predate Christianity.

They contend that the church’s rites are protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of religion.

“That’s what they claim,” Hand said. “It is a First Amendment issue and we will have to deal with it,” if the Tracys raise that as a defense, she said.

Los Angeles police arrested the couple at the house April 11. Authorities said Mary Ellen Tracy asked an undercover vice officer for a $150 donation for the church and told him to perform oral sex on her to show his allegiance to the church. The Tracys were arrested after the officer refused and was ordered to leave.

Will Tracy was originally charged with pimping, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file the felony charge and referred his case to the city attorney’s office.