New details emerge in case of pilot at center of Houston prostitution ring
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Bruce Wayne Wallis, who is considered the ringleader of one of the largest prostitution operations in recent memory in Houston, was arrested back in March. He's accused of engaging in organized crime and promotion of prostitution. But FOX 26 News has obtained the 84-page search warrant filed on June 2 that details Wallis' activity for nearly a year.
What the former United Airlines pilot didn't know was that local and state investigators were following and monitoring him for months, even recording his conversations.
The Houston Police Department also had a confidential informant who was recording Wallis and Traci Rebekah Tanner, his alleged partner in the prostitution ring.
The warrant also details how the manager at three of the office buildings on the Northwest Freeway used by Wallis served as a lookout for the prostitutes. Investigators say that manager also demanded sex from the girls in exchange for telling them when law enforcement officers were coming.
In the documents, Wallis also talks about taking $250,000 out of his 401K plan just in case something went wrong with his operation. It was a business he said was growing and expanding to Katy.
The warrant also talks about Tanner and how she was an expert at finding out if a potential client was a law enforcement officer.
Investigators say she would search clients' phone numbers and was in the process of developing an app for that.
In addition to several office buildings, the document shows Wallis had girls set up in apartments from the Galleria district to the Harwin Drive wholesale district with anywhere from 6-to-10 in each working. He also used his flight school in Porter as a front, according to investigators, to ensure the working girls had check stubs from a legitimate business, the warrant shows.
The prices for time spent with the women ranged from $100 for back massages and hand services to $200 an hour for a full sexual encounter, according to the report.
Records also show one prostitute would make more than $1,200 a day.