Farmhouse Brothel

Farmhouse was brothel, officers say

Lexington County Sheriff’s Department arrests five, seizes records

Not long after an aromatherapy and “soft massage” center opened on Darby Ambrose Road in 2004, neighbors began to wonder if there was more than aromatherapy going on inside.

Cars, trucks and taxicabs pulled up to the quaint red-and-white farmhouse, known as “Brook’s Haven,” at all hours of the day and night. Many cars had out-of-state tags. And almost all the drivers and passengers were male.
On Thursday, the neighbors might have gotten their answer.

Officers from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant and arrested five people for operating what they say was a brothel, or house of prostitution.

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said the arrests came after more than six months of undercover investigation that started after deputies received complaints from neighbors.

Arrested Thursday were:
• Crystal Shawn Richardson, 33, of Gaston, charged with prostitution. Metts said she is accused of being the operator, or “madam,” of the house.
• Sherry Denise Gantt, 31, of West Columbia, charged with prostitution
• Wendy Ann Craig, 32, of Columbia, charged with prostitution and possession of crack cocaine
• Kevin Erwood Carter, 46, of Columbia, charged with soliciting prostitution and simple possession of marijuana
• Randall Allen Shumpert, 42, of Neeses, charged with soliciting prostitution
All are being held at the Lexington County detention center.

Metts said officers searched the house at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Once inside, he said, officers found Craig and Gantt “scantily dressed” in the living room, and Carter. The other suspects were also on the premises.

Metts said prostitutes charged $180 for 30 minutes and $230 for an hour. Additional fees were added for “exotic” acts.

Metts said officers also seized financial records, including credit card machines. He said officers will review the records to try to identify employees who worked as prostitutes at Brook’s Haven, as well as men who were customers.

A statement released by the Sheriff’s Department said officers also are reviewing tapes recorded by surveillance cameras they had set up outside the house to identify clients.

“We expect there are going to be some more names coming out in relation to this,” Metts said.

He said it’s unusual to find a house of prostitution in operation . Most prostitution busts, he said, are either of individuals working alone or through escort services.

“I can’t remember the last time we dealt with a house of prostitution in Lexington County,” he said.

Ervin Shaw said he and his family became suspicious of Brook’s Haven after taxicabs pulled up to their home farther down Darby Ambrose Road looking for what the passengers sometimes referred to as just “The House.” He said he and other residents first noticed the day-and-night parade of cars in and out of the Brook’s Haven driveway in January 2005.

The short, mostly dirt road curves up from U.S. 378, surrounded by woods and farmland. It’s a mostly residential road with a few businesses operating out of houses.

“This was very quietly done. They moved in here and figured this was a quiet place where people wouldn’t pay attention to what was going on,” Shaw said.

Elaine Henderson of Lexington works as a secretary at the Ken Johnson Insurance Agency, located next to Brook’s Haven. She said for several months she had been writing down license plate numbers of cars that pulled up to the house, and that many people started backing into the home’s driveway after they saw her writing down numbers.

“We figured out there was something going on there instantly,” Henderson said. “This location is prime for something like that. I’m glad something’s been done about it.”