Sex mogul arrested in murder-for-hire plot

Sex mogul arrested in murder-for-hire plot
Web site has reviews for more than 1,900 escorts in Orange County.
By EUGENE W. FIELDS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments 36 | Recommend 7

The owner of a nationwide online escort business that includes more than 1,900 escorts in Orange County is facing murder-for-hire charges in Phoenix.

David Elms, 37 is being held in the Maricopa County jail in Phoenix on charges that he was trying to hire someone to kill a 32-year-old female, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

According to authorities, Elms also planned to have a 62-year-old man seriously injured as a possible cover-up to the murder-for-hire.

Elms is the owner/operator of Hawthorne-based TheEroticReview.com, a Web site where potential clients or "hobbyists" can submit reviews and search other reviews on escorts or "providers."

The Web site allows members to rank their experiences with escorts on a scale of 1-to-10, post pictures and leave detailed comments.

The site covers all 50 states and lists escorts by city and area code. There are 127-online pages of Orange County-based escorts.

The multiple Orange County escorts cover almost every city in the county, including Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and Westminster.

Elms has been in and out of trouble with the law, including last summer when he was accused of violating his probation stemming from a 2006 conviction for possession of a firearm and drugs.

Riah Star, an escort who has been reviewed 66 times since 2005, said Elms' legal troubles that his success with the Web site: "He doesn't understand what this business is really about. The power went to his head."

Contact the writer: 714-704-3704 or [email protected]