MIAMI -- A videotape that allegedly shows the wife of a sheriff's deputy having sex with a Fort Lauderdale politician eluded investigators who searched the office of the lawyer representing the woman on prostitution charges, a published report said Sunday.
The tape is said to show accused prostitute Kathy Willets and former Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Doug Danziger having sex.
Prosecutors in Dade and Broward counties are investigating whether state wiretap laws were broken when the video was secretly recorded and then shown to a television reporter in the office of lawyer Ellis Rubin. The attorney is representing Kathy Willets and her husband Jeffrey Willets on charges they ran a prostitution business in their home.
'Inside Edition' reporter Steve Wilson said the video was offered for sale for $60,000 by lawyers Guy Seligman and Guy Rubin, the son of Ellis Rubin.
Jeffrey Willets, 41, who has been suspended with pay from the Broward County sheriff's office, is accused of pimping for his 33-year-old wife, who is charged with prostitution for allegedly charging $150 an hour for sexual services. Kathy Willets's client list allegedly contains the names of prominent south Florida men.
The search for the tape Saturday was 'wholly unnecessary and deeply disturbing,' Ellis Rubin said, according to The Miami Herald.
'The object desired, the so-called Danziger tape, was not there and we told the executing officials that that was the case before they started their search,' he said. 'And we offered to properly produce the tape for a court on Monday morning to decide what should be done with it. That offer was declined.'
Wilson said he viewed the tape in Rubin's Miami office, pretended to be interested in the sale offer, and then reported on whether the venture to sell the tape was ethical.
The Dade County State Attorney's Office opened an investigation Friday based on those allegations.
Danziger resigned from the Fort Lauderdale City Commission when his name was linked to the Willetes' prostitution charges. His lawyer, David Bogenschultz, said Danziger would cooperate with prosecutors if it's concluded that he is on the tape.
'Certainly, if the Dade State Attorney's Office wants the cooperation of Doug Danziger, he has made the decision he will cooperate with them to the best of his ability,' Bogenschultz said.
Still undecided is whether Kathy Willets's client list will be made public. The 4th District Court of Appeals has given lawyers for some of the clients until Tuesday to answer claims from prosecutors and media lawyers that the list should be made public.
The Willetes had been scheduled to plead guilty to prostitution and wiretapping charges last Wednesday, but prosecutors withdrew a plea bargain offer when allegations of the videotape surfaced.
Prosecutors say Jeffrey Willets, a 14-year police veteran, watched his wife having sex from a closet. The Willetes originally denied they were operating a prostitution business, claiming that Kathy Willets suffered from nymphomania and used sex as therapy.
Jeffrey Willets, who said he suffered from impotence, said he went along with his wife because he did not want to lose her.
