A Maine jury needed only a few hours Wednesday morning to convict Mark Strong in the so-called Zumba prostitution case, in which he was charged with helping to run a sex business with his fitness-instructor mistress.

Strong, 57, an insurance agent, faced 12 counts of promotion of prostitution and one count of conspiracy in the trial in Alfred, Maine. No sentencing date was set, NBC station WLBZ of Bangor reported.

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In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutors argued that Strong was heavily involved in running the sex business with his mistress, Alexis Wright, out of her Zumba fitness studio in Kennebunk, Maine.

During the trial, prosecutors played video that they said established that Strong knew Wright was charging clients for sex and that he used hidden cameras and Skype to watch the encounters himself.

Defense lawyers argued that Strong was simply a foolish 57-year-old businessman so in love with the 30-year-old Zumba instructor that he made morally offensive but not illegal choices.

Strong has alleged that he was targeted because of his research into misconduct in the Kennebunk Police Department.

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Closing arguments were delivered on Tuesday in the high-profile Zumba prostitution trial, with prosecutors arguing defendant Mark Strong was heavily involved in running the prostitution business and is guilty of much more than simply having an affair with a fitness instructor.

Strong is accused of helping his mistress Alexis Wright run a prostitution business out of her Kennebunk, Maine, fitness studio. He faces 12 counts of promotion of prostitution and one count of conspiracy to promote prostitution.

According to the Bangor Daily News, Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan reminded jurors of video proving Strong was aware that Wright was charging clients for sex and even used hidden cameras and Skype to watch the appointments in real time.

Prosecutors also attempted to prove that Strong had access to ledgers and bookkeeping, and that he helped organize and schedule appointments with clients.

 

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“Why is she sending [the calendars and ledgers] to him? Not because she’s having an affair with him. Not because he just likes watching her have sex. It’s because he’s a business partner. He wants to know who the clients are, when she’s meeting them, what they’re doing and how much she’s getting paid,” McGettigan told the jury, according to the Bangor newspaper.

 

Lawyers for the 57-year-old Strong argued their client was enamored with the 30-year-old Zumba instructor, causing him to make bad choices that might be morally offensive but not illegal.

Earlier in the day a judge declined to throw out a motion by Strong’s defense team to throw out most of the charges against the Maine businessman. There were problems with the indictment and charges were added unnecessarily, his lawyers argued.

Strong has alleged he was unnecessarily targeted because of his research into misconduct in the Kennebunk Police Department.

Strong's lawyers argued that their client had an extramarital affair with Wright and co-signed a lease for the Zumba business, but was uninvolved in the prostitution operation.

Jury deliberations will begin Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

An insurance agent charged with helping a Zumba instructor run a prostitution business thinks X-rated images of the liaisons are too hot for the jury to handle.

A lawyer for Mark Strong asked a Maine judge on Monday to exclude a whopping 577 Skype screenshots, arguing the prosecution wants to "drown" his client in "extremely sexual" and prejudicial evidence, the Bangor Daily News reported.

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"I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won't possibly get a fair trial," defense attorney Daniel Lilley said on the fifth-day of the trial.

Prosecutors contend the images found on Strong's computer of his ex-mistress, Alexis Wright, and a string of men show he was "actively involved" in the prostitution business.

Strong's attorney countered at worst it shows his client is a "voyeur."

The judge has not yet ruled on whether jurors can see the Skype shots, but signaled that she's inclined to allow them, the newspaper reported.

Strong, 57, who also worked as a part-time private eye in Thomaston, Maine, faces 13 prostitution-related counts.

Wright, 30, is charged with 106 counts for allegedly selling sex to dozens of men at her Kennebunk, Maine, dance studio and home. She will be tried later.

A police computer expert testified Monday that Strong deleted email from his computer a day after Wright's office and home were raided, but he seized the Skype images, spreadsheets and tax documents.

The detective returns to the stand on Tuesday, but only after the judge rules on a defense motion to throw out the remaining charges against Strong. Forty-six counts of privacy invasion have already been dismissed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

 

ALFRED, Maine — An insurance agent accused of helping a Zumba dance instructor run a prostitution business was deeply involved and consulted frequently with her — especially on days when patrons visited, a prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday.

But the defense for Mark Strong Sr. countered that he was guilty only of having an affair with a younger woman and of trying to help his lover's dance studio, which he thought was wholly legitimate.

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"He got close to her. He liked her. He wanted to protect her. You'll have to see if he stepped over the line, and stepped over the line beyond a reasonable doubt," defense attorney Dan Lilley told jurors. "Affairs are bad decisions but not crimes."

The lawyers delivered their opening statements after lengthy delays in picking a jury.

Jury selection stalled for more than three weeks after prosecutors appealed the dismissal of 46 invasion-of-privacy counts against the married businessman. Strong, 57, of Thomaston, is standing trial on 13 other counts dealing with promotion of prostitution.

Both he and the fitness instructor, Alexis Wright, have pleaded not guilty. Wright, who will be tried later, faces charges including engaging in prostitution.

Strong, who ran an insurance agency, helped Wright launch her Pura Vida dance-fitness studio by co-signing for her lease and loaning money with commercial notes that were repaid with interest. He contends he didn't know about allegations of prostitution.

But York County Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan told jurors that Strong knew exactly what was going on and used his private investigator's license to run license plate registration checks on johns.

"Mr. Strong was actively engaged in that business enterprise," McGettigan said, pointing out that Strong and Wright communicated frequently via video link, text and email.

Lilley said Strong never promoted the business nor did he profit from it.

"The question is did he promote prostitution or fall in love with a woman and have an extramarital affair," he told jurors.

The case has generated national and international headlines because of its location in a quiet seaside hamlet next to Kennebunkport, home of the Bush family's Walker's Point summer compound, and the scale of the prostitution alleged.

Law enforcement officials say Wright kept meticulous records suggesting the sex acts generated $150,000 over 18 months.

A lawyer who's seen the client list says it includes more than 150 names, some of them prominent. Those who've been charged include a former mayor, a high school hockey coach, a minister, a lawyer and a firefighter.

Lilley told jurors Wednesday that Strong is a former selectman, little league coach and umpire, husband of 30 years, and father of two grown sons.

He said Strong is not a saint but that he's not a criminal, either. While the charges are all misdemeanors, they're still serious and must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, Lilley told jurors, urging them to take their job seriously.

"If you make a mistake, you take it to your grave," he said.

 

Maine’s highest court has affirmed a judge’s decision to dismiss 46 charges against defendant Mark Strong, accused of helping a woman run a prostitution ring out of her Zumba studio in the resort town of Kennebunk.

All of the charges were related to alleged violations of privacy. Strong, 57, will still stand trial in York County Superior Court on 13 remaining charges, including promotion of prostitution. Dance instructor Alexis Wright, 30, has been charged with 106 counts, including engaging in prostitution. She is expected to go on trial later this year. Both Strong and Wright have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Wright’s attorneys filed an amicus brief in support of Strong on Feb. 4 in which they stated that Wright had “a vested interest in the resolution of this appeal” due to the similarity of some charges between herself and Strong.

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In January, Judge Nancy Mills decided to drop the invasion of privacy charges, which arose from allegations that Wright videotaped herself engaging in sexual acts with clients in her Pura Vida dance studio, as well as at two other locations. The alleged patrons “may have had a subjective expectation of privacy, but I can’t find an objective expectation of privacy that society would be prepared to accept,” Mills said in court last month.

Maine seeks to reinstate dropped Zumba prostitution charges

The decision may be a major blow to the case against Strong. The Supreme Judicial Court wrote that, “the circumstances of the court’s dismissal of the forty-six privacy counts present a reasonable likelihood that the state’s prosecution of Strong has been seriously impaired. The dismissed privacy counts constitute the majority of the criminal counts brought against Strong.”

Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments earlier in the week, and affirmed the superior court’s dismissal in a unanimous decision on Friday.

“Places of prostitution and people who knowingly frequent them to engage a prostitute are not sanctioned by society,” Supreme Court Justice Jon Levy wrote in the court’s decision. “Accordingly, it is objectively unreasonable for a person who knowingly enters a place of prostitution for the purpose of engaging a prostitute to expect that society recognizes a right to be safe from surveillance while inside.”

Accused Zumba pimp: It wasn't 'love' with dance instructor

Strong’s trial has experienced repeated setbacks since jury selection began in January. It was expected that it would take a day to seat a jury, but that process stretched past a week before being stalled entirely when Mills dismissed the 46 charges against Strong. The Supreme Judicial Court was forced to make a separate ruling related to the case when a local newspaper filed an expedited appeal to open  the closed-door jury selection to the public.

Jury selection has been on hold pending a decision on whether or not to drop the 46 criminal counts.

On Thursday, before the high court’s decision, Strong’s attorney Daniel Lilley filed a motion with Mills requesting that she lift an order barring him from speaking to reporters while the case is ongoing.

Lilley wrote that the court “has not considered whether even such a blanket prohibition against discussions with the media will be effective in seating a fair and impartial jury, particularly one in which the jurors have already been instructed to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to media reports concerning this case.”

The man accused of helping a Maine Zumba teacher run a prostitution ring from her dance studio said in an interview with the TODAY show that the two had an “intimate” but not a “love” relationship.

Jury selection began Tuesday morning at the York County Superior Courthouse in the case of Mark Strong, 57, an insurance agent who has also worked as a private investigator. Strong has pleaded not guilty to 59 misdemeanor counts of promotion of prostitution and violation of privacy.

Dance instructor Alexis Wright, 30, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include 45 counts of engaging in prostitution, violation of privacy, and conspiring to promote prostitution. Her trial is not expected to start until May.

Justice Nancy Mills and attorneys for Strong and the state quizzed the more than 140 potential jurors called into the courtroom on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Potential jurors filled out a 10-page questionnaire and were questioned about their views on pornography, adultery and prostitution.

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“You may be shown explicit videos and photographs depicting individuals engaged in graphic sexual acts,” the confidential juror questionnaire asked. “Would viewing this evidence make it difficult for you to listen to the law and evidence and render a fair and impartial verdict?”

The questionnaire also asks jurors if they know or are related to any of 72 potential witnesses who may be called in the course of what is expected to be a weeks-long trial.

Zumba prostitution suspect: I 'did not' pay for sex

In his interview with TODAY, Strong denied paying Wright for sex or helping her promote prostitution.

“I have been harassed. I received threatening phone calls, threatening my life,” Strong said in the TODAY interview.

“This is a long and laborious process, most of which is not public,” defense attorney Daniel Lilley said during a break in jury selection on Tuesday, according to the AP. One-third of the potential jury pool was dismissed Tuesday, and the selection process continued Wednesday.

Strong’s trial will commence as soon as jury selection is complete, Mary Ann Lynch, director of court information for the York County Superior Courthouse, said in an email to NBC News on Tuesday night.

The saga has kept the seaside town of Kennebunk, Maine, where Wright operated her dance and exercise studio, on edge.

“There’s still some of that puritanical New England left around,” Kennebunk store owner Will Bradford told the AP in October.

Court documents filed by Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan on Oct. 18 in the state’s superior court detail materials seized in the discovery process, including a number of computers, cameras and external hard drives.

Talks to strike a plea deal for Strong fell apart last week, the Boston Globe reported.

Zumba prostitution case heads to trial after plea deal fails