District Attorney Won’t Prosecute ‘Sex Church’ Case

Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to file felony pandering charges Monday against a Canyon Country couple who claim to be the high priest and priestess of an ancient Egyptian sex church.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Will and Mary Ellen Tracy, who were arrested by Los Angeles vice officers Nov. 14 at a tiny one-bedroom house in Silver Lake after a female undercover officer asked the Tracys how she could become a priestess in the Church of the Most High Goddess.

Police said the Tracys tried to recruit the officer, who wore a hidden microphone, into working at a house of prostitution.

Gibbons said prosecutors have referred the case to the city attorney’s office, which prosecutes misdemeanors. A spokesman for the city attorney’s office could not be reached for comment Monday night.

Mary Ellen Tracy, 47, and the mother of eight children, claims to have had sex with more than 2,000 men to fulfill her role as high priestess of what she says is the world’s oldest religion. Tracy says she absolves the sins of men through sexual religious rituals.

She was convicted Sept. 8 on misdemeanor charges of prostitution and operating a house of prostitution, sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to take an AIDS test. Will Tracy, 51, was convicted of operating a house of prostitution and sentenced to 180 days in jail.

During their trial, the Tracys admitted that men made cash donations to participate in sexual rites but insisted the donations were religious sacrifices protected by the First Amendment. Police called the church a clever front for prostitution.

The Tracys are appealing their conviction and were free on bail when arrested by vice officers last month. Before moving to Silver Lake, they ran the church out of a house in West Los Angeles.