A travel agent whose website advertises guided tours to "a single man's paradise" in southeast Asia has been arrested on a prostitution charge.
Douglas Allen of Poughkeepsie is accused of promoting prostitution through "sex tourism" in the Philippines and Thailand with his business, Big Apple Oriental Tours.He was arraigned in White Plains City Court on Monday on a felony count of third-degree promoting prostitution, punishable by up to seven years in prison. He was being held on $10,000 bail at the county jail in Valhalla.
Allen was arrested Dec. 3, following a nearly four-month investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.
An investigator contacted Allen through his website,
www.baotours.com, in August, saying he wanted to go overseas to have sex for money.
The undercover officer met Allen several times to pay for the $2,500 trip, prosecutors said, set up like this:
The customer would fly from New York to Hong Kong, then to Manila in the Philippines, where an escort would take him to Angeles City, an area known for strip clubs. Once there, the escort would help the customer meet eligible women.
Allen allegedly told the undercover officer that he would have to negotiate with the women about what sex acts they would perform before they left the bar. He is also accused of telling the officer that, if he found a woman he liked, he could keep her for the rest of his stay in the Philippines .
This isn't the first time Allen has been charged with running illegal sex tours.
In 2004, Allen and his former business partner, Norman Barabash, were indicted by a Dutchess County grand jury on felony and misdemeanor charges of promoting prostitution. At the time, Big Apple Oriental was run from Allen's Poughkeepsie home and Barabash's Queens home.
Dutchess County Judge Gerald Hayes dismissed the charges, finding prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence that a crime had been committed in the Philippines or New York. The decision was upheld on appeal.
Allen and Barabash were later acquitted of running sex tours in a trial in Dutchess County Court in 2009.
According to the company's website, Barabash retired and is no longer an owner. Allen is listed as sole owner and notes that his name was cleaned "after a six-year battle with the State of New York."
The website claims the agency's primary goal is to introduce bachelors to "single marriage-minded women for lifetime companionship." It also carries a disclaimer: "BAO Tours does not sell illegal sex tours we would never invite you to do something that runs any risk of you having any problems with the authorities while overseas on vacation."
But the website boasts that most tours include "a lot of very steamy nightlife" with guides who "can show you a good time without getting you into any trouble."
