Former escort service owner gets jail time for bribery, battery By Jessica La Plante News-Chronicle Despite a defense attorney's pledge that his client was now a legitimate business owner, a former Green Bay woman convicted of offering police bribes to protect her escort service was sentenced Friday to six months in jail. In July, 27-year-old Lakema Coleman was convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge and the felony crime of attempting to bribe police officers. The charges stemmed from an October sting operation Green Bay police performed during a crackdown on unlicensed escort services. According to a criminal complaint, Coleman and a former escort worker, Lisa Morella, paid police an unsolicited visit on Oct. 2 at the West Side hotel where they were conducting the sting operation. Coleman, who was dressed up in a police costume, told the startled officers she knew about the sting and wanted to prove she ran a clean business by giving them a free show. On a surveillance videotape viewed by a Brown County jury, Coleman was seen offering police free monthly shows if they agreed to leave her business alone. The battery charges arose from a confrontation that happened later that evening between Coleman and Morella, after Coleman received a $2,500 citation for operating an unlicensed escort business. During the altercation, Coleman allegedly punched Morella and robbed her of $200. After listening to two days of testimony from police officers and eyewitnesses, a Brown County jury convicted Coleman of attempted bribery and battery, but acquitted her of the robbery charge. Asking the judge to limit Coleman's sentence to probation, defense attorney Joseph Norby painted his client as an independent woman who had overcome a disadvantaged childhood to obtain her GED and realize the American dream of small-business ownership. Since the charges were filed, Coleman has established a respectable niche for herself in the business community as the owner of a nail salon, Norby said. In May, two months before Coleman was tried and convicted, she obtained a manicurist license from the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. Since then, Coleman has taken business classes through the Urban Hope entrepreneurial program and has sign a business lease to rent floor space for her Appleton-based nail salon. Brown County Circuit Judge Peter Naze said lease or not, attempted bribery is a serious crime that cannot go unpunished. "We have to rely on our public officers to do their jobs for the reasons for which they were hired - especially police officers," he said, adding they are entrusted to carry out great responsibilities in an "unsupervised" environment. Naze said Coleman's act of making long-term financial commitments despite the looming threat of prison time "really shows a lack of foresight on Ms. Coleman's part." Although Naze said he hoped the sentence would deter others who might contemplate testing the loyalties of police officer, he said Coleman's rehabilitative needs played a factor in the sentence. "Ms. Coleman comes from a very dysfunctional background," Naze said. "Despite that, she's now trying to accomplish some things." Prosecutor Thomas Coaty said he was concerned Coleman's recent reform efforts were just a token gesture to impress court officials on sentencing day. He asked the judge to impose one year in jail and six years on probation. Naze struck a compromise and ordered six months' jail time followed by three years of probation, during which Coleman must maintain absolute sobriety. Supporters of Coleman, including a woman who identified herself as Coleman's mother, said they didn't feel the justice system had given Coleman a fair shake. "I don't think she's getting treated fairly at all," Trice Burton said. "She has been on her own since 15, but is constantly trying to better herself." She said Coleman never ran an escort service, but simply an adult entertainment service that booked "belly dancers and clowns" for parties.