Lexington man sentenced to 5 years over interstate prostitution service, DOJ says
.jpg "A Fayette County, Kentucky resident has been sentenced to five years in prison after admitting to running a prostitution service.")
Editor’s note: This story was updated after the Department of Justice clarified that the defendant was convicted of running an interstate prostitution service.
A Lexington man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for running an interstate prostitution service, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Michael Allen Comberger, 57, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove after he pleaded guilty to transporting someone across state lines to engage in prostitution, according to the DOJ.
Comberger admitted to running an interstate prostitution business, Fantasys Escort Service, out of Lexington, according to his plea agreement. Comberger used a website to showcase female escorts in different locations in the United States. The website featured information about the escorts and prices.
Comberger also admitted that he set up appointments for the escorts and, on multiple occasions, drove them to their appointments in other states, the DOJ said.
“The money gained from the appointments for commercial sex was split between the escorts and Comberger,” the DOJ said in a news release.
Comberger hired prostitutes from Kentucky and other states and often drove them to meetings with customers, according to court records.
He admitted driving women to meetings in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.
In one example, Comberger picked up a woman from Texas at the airport in Northern Kentucky and took her to a motel in the Cincinnati area to meet a customer — charging $640 for two hours — and then took her on to Indianapolis later that evening to spend the night with another man at a cost of $1,800, according to a sworn statement from an FBI agent.
In addition to prison time, Comberger was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, the DOJ said. He’ll have to serve at least 85% of his sentence and will be on probation for three years after his release.
Comberger pleaded guilty in June.
The case was investigated by Lexington police and the FBI Louisville field office.
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 3:00 PM.