Success backfires for Palatine man

Cook County Judge John Scotillo had to hand it to a Palatine man convicted of drug dealing and accused of running an escort service.

Michael Spencer, Scotillo said Friday, excelled at what he did. So much so, in fact, that his success helped win him 15 years behind bars.

Scotillo delivered that sentence -- and tacked on a $100,000 fine -- after saying he believes Spencer exploited and demeaned women while raking in cash in a profitable drug-fueled prostitution ring.

"It's amazing to me how you used these girls," Scotillo told Spencer as the 35-year-old stood in his jail scrubs in a Rolling Meadows courtroom. "At least during the time that you are in prison, society will be safe. Teenagers will be safe from the likes of you, preying on their weaknesses."

Spencer, of 568 Oak St., was convicted by a jury in December of possessing and intending to deliver cocaine.

But prosecutors said there is more to the story, painting Spencer as a savvy businessman who ran a lucrative escort enterprise -- making girls audition by having sex with him, taking half the cash they made and sometimes paying them with drugs.

He netted more than $80,000 from two of the girls he employed within several weeks in 2005, according to a state's attorney investigator.

Spencer told Scotillo he believes he's innocent of all the accusations and insisted he was a victim of the police and the "vindictive" nature of a few of his former employees.

An ex-Marine who his mother said served during Desert Storm in the 1990s, Spencer urged Scotillo to focus on his "good virtues."

"In my line of work," he said, "it has been my focus to help people, not hurt them."

Moments later, Scotillo said: "I believe you as you say you strive for excellence. You were very successful at this -- unfortunately."

Police arrested Spencer in January 2006, after Rolling Meadows officers on the hunt for a missing teenager pulled him over and found a safe in his trunk packed with wads of cash, escort business-related contracts and nine bags that held cocaine, witnesses said.

Spencer's defense attorney asked Friday for the minimum prison sentence -- six years -- saying there was no evidence he devastated the lives of the girls he hired and no reason to believe the girls who testified against him.

Assistant Public Defender Helen Tsimouris also said her client had been found with only 19 grams of cocaine, barely above the limit that makes it a Class X felony.

Scotillo acknowledged he doesn't think Spencer forced the girls into prostitution, but "they were teenagers," he said, "and teenagers can't make decisions like adults."

Spencer will be credited for the more than 750 days he's already spent in jail. Additional charges of pandering and money laundering were formally dropped Friday. In his brief comments, Spencer hinted he's likely to appeal.