Officials claim the newspaper assisted escort services to design ads that help shield them from law enforcement. But publisher Rick Schreiber calls the arrests "an outrageous abuse of process and
an attempt to censor the First Amendment rights of a newspaper that has reported critically on the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation."
MBI Director Bill Lutz claims the arrests have nothing to do with freedom of speech, or lack thereof. "I don't see a First Amendment issue here," he says. "This is strictly an advertising company making money off of prostitution." The police say the newspaper has earned about $2.3 million over the past five years from prostitution-related ads.
advertisement
advertisement