Fleiss Gets 3 Years in Prison for Pandering : Sentencing: Judge says Hollywood madam preyed on young women. She posts bond and is freed pending an appeal.

Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for pandering and fined $1,500, but she posted a $200,000 bond and was freed pending appeal of her conviction.

Fleiss, 29, still faces federal charges for alleged tax evasion and money laundering.

With credit for good behavior, she could be released from prison in about 18 months on the pandering charges.

Fleiss’ attorneys said an appeal of the conviction could take about 10 months.

Fleiss showed little emotion as Superior Court Judge Judith Champagne pronounced sentence, although the term was the statutory minimum. Her lawyers said in arguments before sentencing that the mandatory prison sentence was unconstitutional.

The judge disagreed.

“This was a highly sophisticated and lucrative criminal enterprise,� Champagne said. “It cannot be called a victimless crime.�

Champagne agreed with Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Carter that Fleiss preyed on young women in her call-girl ring. “It’s very degrading, and it does take its toll,� Champagne said.

Defense attorney Anthony Brooklier said the state’s minimum prison sentence for pandering is “grossly disproportionate to the offense.� He said people convicted for manslaughter, child molestation, extortion and kidnaping are eligible for probation, but his client was not.

“Your Honor, no one was hurt in this case, no one was coerced, and no one operated under duress,� Brooklier said. All she did, he added, was arrange for “consensual sex between consenting adults.�

Carter insisted that Fleiss victimized young women who were not very smart and dazzled them with the lure of money and glamour. He said she steered “impressionable people in the wrong direction. . . . That kind of conduct needs to be punished.�

Carter had asked for a prison sentence of four years.

Fleiss is awaiting a June 20 trial on federal charges of laundering the proceeds from her call-girl ring and lying on her income tax returns.

Her father, Paul Fleiss, who was charged along with his daughter in that case, entered a plea earlier. Heidi Fleiss faces a maximum penalty of about five years in prison on the federal charges; her 61-year-old father is expected to be sentenced to 10 months or less in jail.

In a signed statement submitted in court, Paul Fleiss admitted to concealing at least $250,000 of his daughter’s proceeds from December, 1990, through 1993.

Fleiss’ sentencing on the state pandering convictions was twice delayed as her attorneys tried to work out a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The government offered her a deal that would have required her to serve between 24 months and 41 months, but Fleiss rejected the offer as excessive.

Fleiss has admitted running an exclusive call-girl ring serving the rich and famous. She was arrested and convicted after an undercover sting operation in which Fleiss supplied expensive prostitutes to police posing as Japanese businessmen.

Critics said the police unfairly targeted Fleiss while ignoring her male customers. The prosecutor said Fleiss exploited gullible young women for her own profit. One of the women caught in the sting, in fact, was on her first prostitution assignment from Fleiss.

Fleiss’ attorneys argued unsuccessfully that Fleiss was entrapped and that her convictions were tainted by jury misconduct. Several jurors said they discussed the case outside the courthouse and traded votes during deliberations.

Champagne agreed that there had been misconduct, but said it was not so prejudicial as to require a new trial.