Dearborn, Mich. — Lisa Ann Taylor [aka Melissa Wolf] looked out at a strip club’s dancing poles Thursday night and her heart was racing. It had been at least a year since the 42-year-old former Penthouse Pet had pole danced in front of an audience. It had been longer still since she had needed to take it seriously.
But she’s in trouble with the law in Gwinnett County and her legal bills are mounting. So Taylor walked out on stage at the Toy Chest under her now notorious stage name — “Melissa Wolf, the Mansion Madam.” — to dance her problems away one dollar at a time.
She was dressed like a cowboy — sort of. At least like a cowboy who favored black sequins but not pants.
That’s how Taylor brought her newfound notoriety to a Detroit area strip club Thursday night.
Taylor said she returned to adult entertainment for income after her racketeering arrest made it difficult to sell real estate.
Taylor and Nicole A. Probert, 30, of Lawrenceville, are accused of trading sex for money through a business aided by Web advertisements. The women also have been accused of procuring drugs for their clients and friends.
Taylor, danced late Thursday at the Toy Chest near Detroit before heading off to Cheetah’s of Windsor in Canada early Friday.
“I’d much rather be selling real estate right now, ” Taylor said after her Toy Chest performance.
She faces up to 37 years in prison on charges of running a call-girl operation from her Sugarloaf Country Club home in Duluth.
While Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said she was charging clients as much as $5,000 to $10,000 for sex acts, it’s unlikely that she’s going to come home with that much money tucked away in a G-string from her gigs up north.
But she’s been adding bookings, and said more are coming. The bookings came after news of her arrest raised her profile, she said.
Lawyers for Taylor and Probert have said the women are innocent and that they plan to fight the charges.
Nancy Brun, the manager of Toy Chest, said Thursday night’s crowd was about average. Taylor was better recognized in her native Canada.
Among the songs Taylor danced to were “Black Betty”, “Addicted to Love” and “The Joker” by Steve Miller.
Most of the strippers at the Toy Chest, in their 20s, were infants when Taylor’s Penthouse magazine spread came out in 1985.