Judge Won’t Return ‘Rolodex Madam’s’ List of Names

Karen Wilkening, who became known as the “Rolodex Madam” after investigators seized a client list from her escort service five years ago, cannot have her card file back, a judge ruled Monday.

“We don’t give robbers back their guns,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Dick Lewis said. “We don’t give burglars back their tools. We don’t give panderers back their client list.”

Wilkening, 45, said she wanted the 500-name list as a souvenir of her “adventures” and to ensure that the names are kept private.

But Superior Court Judge Frederic L. Link said the Rolodex should not be returned to Wilkening, who pleaded guilty to pandering, because it was directly involved in a crime.

“As far as I’m concerned, you should take it outside, burn it and bury it,” Link said.

Link also ruled that Wilkening would not get back more than $1,800 seized by police because the money probably was illicit income from her escort service.

Wilkening said she will appeal the decision.

“I paid for my crimes, and I want my property back,” she said.

Wilkening said the district attorney’s office has promised to return the metal Rolodex case that she wanted as a souvenir but not the file cards.

Wilkening said she is writing a book chronicling her “adventures” after she purchased an escort service in 1981.

After the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force began investigating her in connection with its probe of the murder of prostitute Donna Gentile, Wilkening fled to the Philippines in September, 1987, where she was a fugitive for 1 1/2 years. Gentile did not work for Wilkening, and Wilkening denied having any knowledge of the killing.

In August, 1989, Wilkening pleaded guilty to felony charges of pandering and conspiring with her attorney to obstruct justice. Wilkening served less than two years in state prison. She was paroled in May, 1991.