Williamsburg Woman Was in Mexico, Not Fugitive

March 15, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Alleged Assistant to UES Madam Free on $100K Bond

NEW YORK (AP) — A matchmaking recruiter charged with helping to run a big-money brothel on the Upper East Side has been on vacation, not the lam, her lawyer said as the woman surrendered this week to face charges.

Jaynie Baker, 30, of Brooklyn, dressed in tan tailored pants and a silky, pale blue shirt, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment and made the $100,000 bail set by the judge in the sensational case surrounding accused multimillion-dollar madam Anna Gristina.

Gristina, accused of providing prostitutes to power brokers and claiming to have law-enforcement contacts, was arrested last month and has pleaded not guilty to promoting prostitution.

Baker was vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when news of the case broke last week, said her lawyer, Robert Gottlieb. After friends called to tell her that reporters were massed outside her apartment in Williamsburg, she quickly took steps to address the case, he said.

“She heard about what’s going on last week. She contacted me,” Gottlieb said.

He said she called him last Thursday, and he contacted prosecutors the next day to start arranging for her to surrender. She flew back Saturday and had been prepared to turn herself in Monday, Gottlieb said.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has declined to comment on the case.

A friend has offered to put up a home to secure bail for Baker, Gottlieb said.

Gristina, 44, has been held on $2 million bond. Prosecutors have said the Scottish-born Gristina, who remains a British citizen, had said she would flee if she got in trouble and may have money stashed away to do so.

One of her lawyers, Peter J. Gleason, has said she’s broke — so much so that he has offered his own $2.5 million loft to secure her bail and to serve as a house-arrest site for her. A hearing on the unusual proposal is today.

Baker is due back in court on March 27.