Ex-lawyer loses appeal in Kittery brothel case

BOSTON – The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of a former lawyer and chairman of the Town Council in Kittery, Maine, who was convicted of operating a brothel and conspiring to launder millions of dollars.

The decision by the appeals court rejected all of Gary Reiner’s arguments, including one that his five-year prison sentence was too harsh.

“I think justice has been served,” said F. Mark Terison, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland, Maine.

The appeals court rejected Reiner’s contention that evidence seized during a raid on the Danish Health Club in Kittery should have been suppressed because of a flawed search warrant.

Reiner also argued that a mistrial should have been declared when a witness testified about underage girls working as prostitutes. The trial judge ordered jurors to disregard the statements, and the appeals court said that was sufficient.

He also failed in his arguments that he should have received a lighter sentence and should not be held accountable for $3.9 million that passed through the club into various bank accounts he controlled between 2001 and 2004.

Reiner, 56, was convicted in September 2005 in U.S. District Court in Portland for his role in running the Danish Health Club.

The club, which opened in 1984 and operated for 20 years, was razed in December to make way for townhouses and commercial space. The two-story building had been vacant since it was raided by FBI agents two years earlier.

Kittery police, who were accused of turning a blind eye, were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Reiner is being held at a minimum-security federal prison in Pennsylvania. He’s due to be released in July 2010.