Church Claim Rejected; Pair Guilty of Prostitution

A Canyon Country woman and her husband were convicted of prostitution Friday by a jury that refused to believe that the woman’s sex acts with hundreds of men were her legitimate duties as high priestess of an ancient Egyptian religion the couple say they practice.

The Los Angeles Municipal Court jury deliberated for more than four days before finding Mary Ellen Tracy, 46, guilty of one charge of operating a house of prostitution and two charges of prostitution. Will Tracy, 51, was convicted of one count of operating a house of prostitution. All the charges are misdemeanors.

Judge Marion L. Obera scheduled sentencing for Thursday. Mary Ellen Tracy faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail and a $3,000 fine. Will Tracy faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Faithful Devotees

The Tracys admitted accepting monetary donations from the men who joined their church and had sex with Mary Ellen Tracy. But Will Tracy called the donations sacrifices and testified that they were nothing more than evidence that the men were faithful devotees of what the Tracys called the Church of the Most High Goddess.

Tracy said he and his wife plan to appeal. The sex acts were part of a legitimate religion and should be protected under the First Amendment, he said.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Tracy said. “The doctrines of the religion were put on trial.”

Deputy City Atty. George R. Lomeli had told the jury that the couple’s church was merely a front for prostitution.

‘Prostitution Club’

Mary Ellen Tracy “would engage in sexual activity with individuals in exchange for some kind of consideration or money,” Lomeli said after the verdict was returned. “They were running nothing more than a prostitution club.”

The couple were arrested April 11 at the West Los Angeles house they were using as a church headquarters. Mary Ellen Tracy asked an undercover Los Angeles police officer for a $150 donation to the church and told him to perform a sexual act with her to show his allegiance to the church, authorities said. The arrest took place after the officer refused and was ordered to leave, police said.

During the trial, Will Tracy likened himself to Jesus Christ and Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, who he said were persecuted because their beliefs contradicted social norms of their times.

In what the Tracys described as their religion, the sins of men are absolved through sex with the church’s priestess.

Will Tracy said that the religion dates back more than 5,000 years to ancient Egypt and that he revived it in 1984 upon receiving a revelation from God.

The trial included testimony from a psychiatrist, Dr. Alvin E. Davis, who said Mary Ellen Tracy truly believes in the tenets of the sex church. But Davis described her as a passive person driven to take part in the sex rituals by her husband.

Lomeli said he has not decided whether to ask the judge to levy a specific sentence.