Sex Priestess, Husband to Begin Jail Terms
Mary Ellen Tracy, the Canyon Country woman who claimed she was the high priestess of an ancient religion that mixed worship with sex, was ordered Tuesday to surrender to authorities next week to begin serving a one-year jail term for prostitution.
Tracy and her husband, Will, had requested a continuance that would have allowed them to remain free on bail while they appealed their convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court. Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Barry Kohn denied the request, clearing the way for the Tracys to begin serving their sentences Monday.
Tracy, 48, and her husband were convicted of running a house of prostitution in September, 1989. She also was convicted of one count of prostitution. Will Tracy, 53, faces a six-month sentence. The Tracys unsuccessfully argued in Municipal Court and on appeal that they were the modern practitioners of an ancient Egyptian religion that required men to have sex with the high priestess to absolve their sins.
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