Authorities: 61-year-old woman in prostitution ring

SPRINGFIELD - Court documents show a 61-year-old woman from a small central Illinois village played a key role in an alleged multistate prostitution ring.

Letha Deanna Dean of Pleasant Plains and 16 other adults were charged Wednesday by a federal grand jury with conspiracy and coercion.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports Saturday on Dean's involvement in every one of the 19 phone calls among defendants outlined in the indictment.

The indictment says the prostitution operation ran out of a home in Springfield, about 15 miles from Pleasant Plains.

The indictment describes phone conversations about prostitutes' attributes, fees and travel arrangements between Dean and people in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.

A telephone listing for Dean in Pleasant Plains was disconnected Saturday. It was unclear whether she has hired an attorney.