It's a boy.
That's all the pregnant and guilty Center City madam, Maureen McCausland, had to tell the world yesterday when she was sentenced to probation and community service for promoting prostitution.
McCausland, 35, a Voorhees housewife who police say was one of Philadelphia's busiest bordello operators, was convicted in June of a misdemeanor prostitution charge related to her Bella Femmina modeling studio, in the 2000 block of Sansom Street.
Yesterday, McCausland, who has a teenage son and a toddler and is expecting a third child, came to court on the arm of her husband, flashing a dazzling smile and looking more like a wholesome mother than an established madam who, in recent years, operated three reputed houses of prostitution in Philadelphia - Victoria's Doll House, Nicole's Golden Touch and Bella Femmina. All are now
closed.
Despite the prosecutor's plea for a jail term, McCausland was sentenced to two years of probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service by Common Pleas Court Judge Joan A. Brown.
"I don't find that sending you to jail is going to do you or anyone in the community any good," said the judge. "The most important thing is for you to stay out of trouble."
"I'll also order that you seek some legitimate employment. I don't want to see you back in my courtroom. . . . If you violate any of my orders I will send you to jail."
McCausland returned to her seat on the front row, beside her husband. The two chatted affectionately and she put her arm around him. Later they walked, arm and arm, out of the courtroom.
"I'm sorry," she told reporters. "I don't have anything to say."
When asked by a reporter if she knew the sex of the baby due in November, McCausland offered a Doris Day smile and said, "It's a boy."
She agreed last month to close her Sansom Street establishment after the District Attorney's Office filed a civil nuisance lawsuit. Two citizens' groups, the Center City Residents Association and the Rittenhouse Town Watch, joined the suit on the district attorney's side.
McCausland's attorney, Michael A. Seidman, said yesterday that McCausland had filed for bankruptcy in May, listing assets of more than $1 million. "She got some very horrendous advice a couple years ago, and purchased the building at 2046 Sansom St. for two or three times more than it was worth," he said, noting that his client now wants to sell or rent the property.
"Miss McCausland's financial situation is not very good," Seidman said.
Assistant District Attorney Deborah Watson-Stokes argued that McCausland ''has profited substantially from the illegal activities. Bella Femmina netted $8,000 a month - that's $96,000 a year," the prosecutor said in court.
The Sansom Street property is valued at $500,000. McCausland's home in Voorhees is worth $400,000 - "and she owns two Cadillac Sevilles," said the prosecutor.
McCausland was arrested in Philadelphia for prostitution four times in the early 1980s, but each time the charges were withdrawn by the prosecution. The reasons for those decisions could not be learned yesterday.
From 1990 to 1995, there were 56 prostitution-related arrests at Bella Femmina, Nicole's Golden Touch and Victoria's Doll House, a police vice enforcement officer, Sgt. Joseph Lanciano, testified yesterday.
