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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Arizona's Goddess Temple was a house of prostitution, not god

The Phoenix Goddess Temple was raided by cops this week.

The Phoenix Goddess Temple was raided by cops this week.

Cops busted an Arizona church after they said the only healing it offered was sexual.

On Friday, police said they arrested 20 people from the Phoenix Goddess Temple church and charged them with prostitution, CNN.com reported.

They are still looking for 17 more people after a six-month investigation into the supposed holy house -- which advertised in the adult entertainment section of a classifieds ads website.

In addition to sex-ed and sex toy classes, the church offered "sessions" to heal sexual blockages for up to $650 a pop, ABC News reported.

And that, cops say, has nothing to do with praising Jesus, or any other higher power.

"We certainly respect First Amendment rights. However, religious freedom does not allow for criminal acts," Phoenix police spokesman Steve Martos told CNN.

During searches of the Phoenix and Sedona branches of the temple netted evidence showing "church members" performing sex acts in exchange for "donations", cops said.

The Temple's founder, Tracy Elise, had been involved with a similar religious scam in Seattle, ABC News reported. She was among the suspects arrested, cops said.

On her Facebook page, she identifies herself as the "center holder/mother priestess" of the temple, since 2001 and is originally from Fairbanks, Alaska. While here music, movies and activities are all tantric/sex-based, she also claims to like the TV shows "Big Love", "Sex and the City", "My Name is Earl" and "Entourage".

"I'm going to call it like I see it," Maricopa county attorney Bill Montgomery told the network. "They had a brothel, they had a madam, they had prostitutes and they had johns. The johns were paying prostitutes for sex. That's illegal. It's a blight on the community and we took action to take it down."

It was the largest prostitution bust in Arizona since 2008.  In addition to sex charges, those arrested face charges including conspiracy and massaging without a license, cops said.

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