How a Sex Scandal Tore a Small Town Apart: Sex, Lies And Zumba (Scandal Documentary) | Real Stories

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it was the perfect storm a small town in May a suspected prostitute a list of up to a hundred and seventy clients the list that everyone seems to be talking about who's on it and when will we see it and Zumba for over a year one community was rocked by a sex scandal that started locally we have to say about the charges against you it was just everywhere became the talk of the nation an ugly scandal dogging the post card pretty town of Kennebunk Maine has gotten uglier and then the world suddenly it's in the news around the globe now for the first time those most intimately involved reveal everything this is my first video diary who was this so-called Zumba madam she was definitely a little flirty Alexis Alexis Alexis Alexis who was on her list there were a lot of people out there who wanted blood you can imagine in a town of 10,000 the scandal has rocked this community disrupt civil life and just how did one dance studio turn this quiet New England town on its head [Music] [Music] people come here because of his beauty of its peacefulness they come here because it provides people with a quintessential idea of the main town the small downtown the local people who know each other who weighs in the morning hello [Applause] this is a Kennebunk TV website that's probably the best characterization of the town that that I know of [Music] we have a treasure that not too many people are aware of this is not a mecca of unsavory activity it's really kind of a place that you'd like to bring up your family this is where bush senior and his wife lived here in the summertime I walked into a pizza place one day and he was standing there he shook my hand and thanked me for my service and told me how he didn't like the broccoli on his own Pizza didn't like broccoli at all typically it's a pretty ordinary life it's the type of place where you can leave your house door unlocked and you don't have to worry about it kennebunk sloka paper is the york county costar i can tell you this week one of the big issues is the rising cost of the town issued garbage bags and whether or not people are going to have to pay more to throw out their trash in the years to come this is that the mean streets of Kennebunk this is where we patrol we take a variety of calls to service we have a lot of lost dog calls we do have a huge community of dog lovers in this town so we have a lot of canine calls those are phone calls there's very little that goes on that everybody doesn't know about in 2009 Kennebunk welcomed someone from a neighboring town pre-med student mother of one and fitness instructor Alexis right we first heard about Alexis right a few years ago when she came to town she was a very young kind of bright woman at the time who is doing a lot of exercise classes you know the next thing we heard is that she was opening her own dance studio you know she quickly got a following Zumba was new was this Latin crazed dance Fitness combination that a lot of people found really appealing every workout is a party or something like that I think that's their official tagline since I was personally interested in it I said sign me up it was great she was you know enthusiastic teacher led a class of probably 30 women so it was just a lot of fun to go and sweat a lot of people really kind of got behind the whole Zumba craze so she you know became kind of one of the the townspeople she was super intelligent she was saying you know she's a full-time student mother of a young son and leading I think 20 classes a week at that time so it's like wow you're my inspiration but it wasn't long before admiration turned to suspicion I think it was maybe September of 2011 we got a tip from someone saying hey you know I you might want to take a look at the the local Zumba instructor just google her name somebody had called us and said wow they're teaching naked Zumba and Kennebunk and we're like no that's not true and so with the help of Google we googled her and sure enough there she was dancing in her studio naked we started seeing that there was something more than just Zumba that was going on shocking speechless like this went on there [Music] for the local newspaper this was the story of a lifetime it was all hands on deck everyone in the office just started kind of filing away and and googling everything that we could all of these videos came up he we never even counted all the sites that we found just hundreds posted online we came across the videos where she was kind of exposing herself at public parks during the day a beautiful sunny day today and a good spot to get cozy she came in here I knew she had a business next door she ordered food a couple times a week she was definitely a little flirty you could just see you could just tell by her body language she would get delivery once in a while and on one specific delivery I had to go over to her house she answered the door in a towel and she was fussing around with the wallet out of nowhere offer comes a towel and I'm standing there [Music] and she started walking over to me and she just she kept asking me if I wanted to stay just for a few more moments she had like a couple cameras set up in her living room and I just you know I analyzed the whole entire situation eventually I left you know it's not every day that that type of event happens pretty soon we could see that there were videos with with men and women she was engaged in sex activities during the day again in parking lots where you would see municipal workers kind of walk past her car windows there was like you know a lot of group encounters which was I don't know if it's so shocking as it is just kind of makes you feel oh well dirty I guess so for those of you who are in meaning things like this don't happen in Kennebunk they haven't well I'm sure they do under the surface but nothing so public and so I mean she used her name her real name on Google we discovered that she had posted sort of a new blog site that she was advertising a new business a massage business that she had started here in Kennebunk this is one of her ads that was on Backpage and she says now taking on clients full-time what's your fantasy I live in a small town in Maine and I have my own dance studio I have had sex with many of the married men locally I am probably saving many marriages by giving these men exactly what they want when they need it [Music] she has curtains going across the front of her studio and somebody actually jumped up and looked one day and there she was like on top of a massage table with the man like engaging hold on hold on there's like kids here it's a little graphic in the state of Maine prostitution or engaging a prostitute is illegal so you can't pay or uh solicit sex for money it's a misdemeanor crime it started out as hearsay and then I began an online investigation I could not believe the amount of information on the internet regarding Alexis right at that point it was like hitting a gold mine we went full steam ahead I contacted the district attorney told him what we had on Valentine's Day 2012 the Kennebunk police raided Alexis Wright Zumba studio office and home they found proof of prostitution but also hit an unexpected evidential jackpot she was using a Skype camera that was built into the computer Alexis Wright had videotaped her sex sessions and kept spreadsheets detailing services performed and money charged she had also noted her clients car license plates and kept a list of their names is so organized this is so professional this is so meticulous and everyone's like who is on the list nobody I think ever wants to get caught doing something like that it was nerve-wracking very nerve-wracking and I just knew it was just a matter of time [Music] in the summer of 2012 the residents of Kennebunk Maine realized there was more to their local Zumba teacher than just Zumba an ugly scandal dogging the postcard pretty town of Kennebunk Maine has gotten uglier at its center the contents of a list the names of more than a hundred local men were allegedly paid to have sex with this woman I actually saw somebody as I was sitting in a bar turn say to her husband well are you on the list the list that everyone seems to be talking about who's on it and when will we see it you know the first thing I did when I came home to my husband is like please don't tell me you're on the list residents are on edge wondering if the so-called client list will be made public it was just everywhere a lot of customers came in actually and made sure that I wasn't personally on there I've heard several times that I was on the list I heard several times that I was resigning or that I was put on suspension I thought I actually found that quite amusing I think there's a lot of people talking and probably some people that are sweating bullets about that list that may or may not come out okay and many sleepless nights hoping and praying that my name wasn't gonna be released none of the so-called John's knew they were being filmed and today they wished to keep their identities private I'm retired I live alone I'm not married over the lonely so I want comfort and she was offering massages I knocked on the front door of the Zuma studio and she answered in a flannel under a robe and she took the robe off and she was naked basically at that point I realized he was gonna be more than just him and I had no complaints while I was just having some some issues with my my business and marriage and life grabbing a hold of me and I when I met her she gave me a massage for a little while and then of course they do what they do lead investigator Audra Presby started contacting those in Alexis Wright's little black book what we would do is just telephone them and have them come down here to the Kennebunk police department I got a phone call from my wife and she knew before I did they found her cell phone number she asked me who Alexis Wright was so pretty horrific I was contacted by the Kennebunk police department then I realized oh they showed me video is that they had of me so I knew I was in trouble a lot of the John's we we had a lot of evidence you know cuz that was the big defense in their eyes well how do you know what's mean well we had it all in front of us it was great evidence we and we thanked miss Wright a few times for her meticulous records the Kennebunk police department publishes the names of those who have been charged with crimes and misdemeanors every other week the people on the list were about to be listed Kennebunk police just released the first group of names about 20 minutes ago we are in the process of researching these names based on some quick internet searching the alleged clients appear to come from all parts of New England and all walks of life including businessmen and lawyers were a lot of people out there who wanted blood like we had killed somebody a modern-day Scarlet Letter story set in this picturesque town of 10,000 in Kennebunk Maine scandal is afoot when that list was released last night we went through the 21 names and matched as many as we could with phone numbers and called all of them as you might imagine most people just hung up on us it was quite the frenzy so my wife and I our job was to work at trying to protect our kids I apologized to my voice and and my wife in front of my boys coming up reputations are about to be trashed now all of a sudden you know like this sex criminal you know spread across the world and family lives shattered where they find these names where they come from it just wasn't him [Music] in Kennebunk Maine the infamous list of names implicated in the Zumba sex scandal has been released I am who went to the Zumba classes that was not neat innocent people with the same names as those on the list have fallen under suspicion the first 10 names that were least one of them was Paul main well at first I laughed I thought it was rather humorous and then all of a sudden the gravity of it hit me and I said oh my gosh there we go telephones ringing again Paul Bain has been answering phone calls all night but even more difficult the phone calls he's had to make I had to call my children and tell them it wasn't me it just wasn't him we got calls from California from Virginia as well as all over Maine all over New England people calling to say what is going on it was it was a circus for a while and it was very upsetting it felt like getting hit in the face with a frying pan and that didn't even have the courtesy to warm up the pan it disrupts your whole life you know and go to the doctors well I see how's the Zumba thing going people like you know people you don't know they're talking about Zumba another surprise appearance on the list was a Donald Hill the name of the high school hockey coach my phone blew up with people calling me I called my ex-wife and I spoke with her she was very supportive and I also had to call my mother which was a tough call to make I spoke with my athletic director at Kennebunk high school with all this madness we decided the best thing for the kids and the team and the program was for me to step away the former Kennebunk high school hockey coached in snared in a town prostitution case I didn't want to turn the television on it was you know every day was constant Donald Haley is one of the john doe's listed in these motions he'll resign his job as the Kennebunk high school boys hockey coach on Monday this would have been his 20th season coaching the team over eight weeks 67 John's as well as one woman were charged and named on the list the publicity was worse than that the fine bouquet so they'd find me $600 I would have paid three times that fine if they would have kept my name private it was wrong the whole thing was evil a lot of unnecessary damage former high school hockey coach Donald Hill now has more time for his other job as a chef he admits having sex with Alexis but insists he thought she was his girlfriend everything you said happened happened in here he is represented by his longtime friend and attorney Gary Pearlman she told all of you guys you know you were in a relationship with her and all that stuff so not only does he lose his job he has to be told that you know sorry Donny you know there's a hundred and seventy three other guys sorry about I think she's cheating on you you know when you're 52 or divorcing and some young good-looking girl seems to act like she likes you a little bit it's kind of you know you kind of want to believe it but I guess I shouldn't have nothing incriminates you at all and I expect that in a jury trial that we are going to be victorious and you'll finally be exonerated despite the fact that you've had to go through all this stuff it's tough just you know try to do everything in the right way and and now all of a sudden then you know like this sex criminal you know spread across the world this next story has consumed a small town in Maine not far from the famous home of former President George Herbert Walker Bush suddenly it's in the news around the globe as the excitement around the list continued Alexis right remained silent how's your burger and french fries what's done you ate how you stopped another burger but one man had a unique perspective into Alexis's life her husband how was it Jason Alexis Alexis Alexis Alexis I mean it's not a really thing I don't like about her I mean the situation that occurred really kind of put a it was seed stuff to talk Jason and Alexis started dating in April 2007 anybody that has met her before this can't fathom her being involved in this she's a great person she's kind she's always looking out for her family always in April 2011 Jason discovered that Alexis had a not-so-secret life online well apparently everybody knew I had a friend a friend told me I looked online and there they were most explicit sex possible just plastered everywhere it's the biggest form of treachery and a relationship you could have to discover something like that it's walkaway material [Music] police investigating the Kennebunk sex scandal are about to discover that Zumba dance teacher Alexis Wright was not working alone often times I would hear voice the male voice would come through on the computer [Music] and that was when I first came across the voice the other individual involved in this case The Voice was believed to be that of Mark Strong an insurance salesman living a hundred miles upstate in Thomaston Maine he'd been watching Alexis having sex with their clients streamed live to his home via Skype it was crazy we could not believe that someone that far away was watching someone down here in Kennebunk having sex all day what was he doing as well as selling insurance mark Strong was a licensed private investigator who boasted of working for the state of Maine and for the federal government Omar comes from a very prominent family here in town and I've known him for about 30 years small communities so we know each other quite a bit one of the nicest guys you could want to meet very friendly outgoing loving husband good kids nice guy he was watching her every single day when she was having sex with her clients he obviously knew the daily ins and outs of what was going on his hand was in all of it you know she had to report to him who she had sex with every day and had to email him I mean we're talking thousands and thousands and thousands of text messages and emails every day every hour going back and forth with each other Alexis right sent mark strong details about her clients including their car license plates she also gave him hard drives with videos of her sex sessions he was controlling her he was a boss why I stayed initially really as I felt that deserves some answers I felt by I aren't I felt that our relationship was so good at within those four years that I earned something we took a ride and she wanted to make sure that she wasn't followed we left the state actually she kept peeking over her shoulder and was just trying to see if anybody was following us she was scared Alexis told Jason an outlandish tale that she was working as a secret operative for the federal government tasked with flushing out and gathering evidence on sexual deviance she was always told that they try to get as much information as possible then they'll make their move she said that her phone records were kept track of she was monitored every day she had check-in her boss was mark strong alexis explained that the exhibitionist videos were bait to attract more deviance some of the things made sense videos are posted with her name almost as if she's putting herself out there to attract more people why would you do it like that if you weren't kind of involved in these investigations yeah it's it sounds crazy just made more sense than that was what was going on not because I was in love and I wanted to believe something put the pieces together that fits the story for over a year jason says he watched alexis go to work as a Zumba teacher and as he believed state-sponsored sex worker she always took long showers and so finally I went in there and she just me crying crying on the floor of the tub you know I just have to go in there and pick her up every day dry her off you know start drying her hair combing it out I'm telling her it's gonna be all right I do that you know what I mean it's gonna it's gonna be all right she wasn't all right jason says that mark strong explained away the police raids on the Zumba studio as a miscommunication between the federal government and the Kennebunk police she had believed that she was involved in these investigations so much that almost that raid almost made me buy into it more that he would keep everything going and they would keep everything going alexis continued to work as a prostitute who in the right mind after that Pakman is gonna keep it going unless they are state-funded unless this is a state operation in July 2012 Alexis and Jason heard that Mark Strong had been arrested and charged with promoting prostitution State Police arrested strong yesterday this court half and David details his alleged connection to a woman who runs this Zumba studio here in Kennebunk but in this document police say she was having sex for money and posting videos of the acts online just like that it all clicks and I just I just looked at her and I go it was all of them it was all fake it wasn't real mark strong was not in fact a secret operative for the state he was just an insurance salesman with a voracious appetite for live-action porn she destroyed everything she did was for nothing mark strongest facing one count of promotion of prostitution strong was back at work at his Thomas tan insurance agency today who would not talk about his recent arrest we had never heard of Mark Strong before from what we were able to see he and Alexis had known each other for several years I guess at one point she must have been an aspiring model he was an amateur photographer who kind of took modeling shots of young women and there were several including nudes of Alexis so it was pretty obvious that they had had some kind of relationship in October 2012 strong and right both appeared in court Alexis right faced charges of prostitution as well as tax evasion on her undeclared but thoroughly chronicled income they opted for separate trials Alexis right stuck to her story that she had been duped by strong and believed she was an undercover state operative what do you have to say about the charges against you I have no comment mark anything I have to say about the case right now while both maintained their public silence Kennebunk became a media circus you turn on the news and you I would see my shop my pizza shop right next to the zoo the studio on national news and I'm like oh this is crazy the saga has been developing for several months now people will come in and say oh you should get a Zumba Pizza special and I'm like no why this has already been a circus and we haven't even gotten to opening arguments yet it was now time for Mark Strong to face the prosecutors would he be found innocent or guilty [Music] [Music] February 2012 mark Strong one of the accused and the Kennebunk prostitution case is facing trial the question is did he promote prostitution or did he fall in love and have an extramarital affair he's an older man she's a younger attractive woman tale told many times over in the history of the world and that happened the police had discovered that Mark Strong combined a great deal of pleasure with business mark Strong had hours and hours and hours of videos these were individual CDs that mr. strong had of him and miss Wright alone that showed the unbelievable overwhelming sexual relationship that these two had the man accused of helping a small-town Zumba teacher run a prostitution ring is speaking out to defend himself it wasn't a love relationship for either one of us it was strictly an intimate relationship his trial started Tuesday and is expected to last a couple of weeks as the trial progressed yet more small-town secrets were exposed today was the first videos that showed graphic content none of the jurors laughed none of them had expressions they took it very seriously this is something that may provide a black mark on the community for a period of time and we'd like for feet people to be you know focus on the good I think there's plenty of doubt we hope the jury feels the same way the case is now in the hands of the jury this has been kind of an ugly chapter in the town's life as a community member I think oh you know let's have an end to it well right now we're we're actually waiting for the jury's verdict it's it's a very anxious time right now very anxious we as a department have never had a investigation of this magnitude so from that aspect this was like you know the Superbowl mark Strong was sentenced to 20 days in jail we just won the Super Bowl we won the first Super Bowl we still have another one to go Alexis right stuck to her story that she had been set up by strong and believed she was an undercover state operative I for 10 years of being involved in this business have never seen anybody come up with this crazy of a back story the fact that she was steadfast in the story certainly gave me confidence that she was telling me the truth and then as time went on and I started to go through more and more of the documents and text messages and videos and everything else at the state had given me it became apparent that there was in fact other evidence to support what she was saying the text messages that reference the state are ones that are sent from Mark Strong to Alexis and they talked about things like the state's gonna be meeting with operatives the state setting up rules for how many clients she has to see and how her performance is going to be measured there are references to the state being fed up with Alexis there's also references to her being monitored there are exchanges about videos being made in members of videos I think people have assumed that she's making those videos for herself and herself alone and not at the direction of Mark Strong and that would be a false assumption those videos and the need to make those videos posting them online and that sort of thing was all part of her sort of investigative work as an operative for Mark Strong there's a very big misconception of who I am as a person I'm sure she has a story I'm sure she does but I think she actually liked what she did every day just by watching her listening to her thought she was a willing participant every single day I don't care what any video shows of her enjoying what she's doing she's so far from all right and even today she's so far you know [Music] but will the town of Kennebunk believe Alexis's story like it kills me just how much my family has suffered now what my friends have suffered and they just still want to be there for me in the Zumba prostitution scandal Alexis Wright has a decision to make to plead guilty in return for a lighter sentence or risk a jury trial alleged prostitute Alexis Wright and her lawyer arrived here at Cumberland County Court just about 8:35 this morning to begin another day of plea talks with prosecutors now besides prostitution charges she also faces more serious felony counts including tax evasion and theft by deception those charges carry penalties of up to ten years in prison and hefty fines after this publicity monster after this media frenzy you know when we go to a jury trial who's gonna believe her so she had to make the decision for herself faced with the possibility of ten years in jail alexis strikes a deal with prosecutors they did strike a deal for alexis right she pleaded guilty and she is facing 10 months in jail you don't hear her whole life story before she was involved with us it doesn't you know I mean you're gonna you're not gonna be able to put it together once you hear her story you know it makes sense I mean all the blanks are filled it Alexis right is on her way to be formally sentenced if the judge approves the plea deal then Alexis will go straight to jail in advance of the hearing the media have been briefed on the state operative story according to the sentencing memo from the defense a few new details there that are coming to light that memo says the convicted pimp mark Strong senior convinced Alexis right that she would actually be acting as an operative for the state investigating sexual deviance in court lawyer Sarah Churchill lays out alexis rights mitigating circumstances I grew up her mother from Mexico Alexis right also makes a statement to the judge about Mark Strong Justice Mills upholds the ten month sentence [Music] and outside lead prosecutor Justyna magetta ghen talks to the press so did you buy that story up there what she spoke to the judge she has her reasons why she's saying what she did we believe that she willingly engaged in this behavior that's that's a very hard story to swallow as far as the extent to which she could have understood or believed that acting as a prostitute was in some way connected to the state I mean honestly right now I'm thinking people think it's a joke and people might always think it's a joke I'll stand by her story you know because that's what I saw I didn't just sit there and be like okay I believe you because I love you that's what I saw [Applause] I think people here are done with this story you know the studio that was so infamous now has a new owner there they're back to teaching the Zumba there again I think people have really moved on so I think that having some quiet time and some normal summer stories are not a bad thing today's relatively slow day we haven't had too too much going on which is a good thing not a very high crime day today after serving 15 of his 20 day jail sentence mark Strong was released some yesterday he was here for a few I shook his hand smiled he shook my hand and smiled and I said it's good to see you Mike all of us have our secret sins and Mike just got caught in his secret sin that's all now we all have a an exterior that we left the rest of the world see and then there's that bit of us that nobody gets to see and unfortunately in my ex case everybody got to see that bit of him well the only anticipation of the trial and Lexus took a couple of video diaries a little memorabilia I guess I hold on do while she's going [Music] Alexis Wright is serving her sentence in York County Jail I mean I'm sure she's upset obviously but from what she's been through her whole life 30 years it's like she struggled her whole life this is the first time that she's free I'm a survivor and it will get through this somehow I will get through this

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Channel: Real Stories

Views: 588,898

Rating: 4.5891719 out of 5

Keywords: scandal, zumba fitness, justice, court trial, Real Stories, Real Stories Full Documentary, Real Stories Documentary, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2018 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, Amazing Stories, Amazing Documentaries, Extraordinary people, 2019, 2019 documentaries, tlc, only human, wonder, zumba prostitution, alexis wright, alexis wright trial, kennebunk maine

Id: HQB5444hcKU

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Length: 43min 0sec (2580 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2019

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