PORTLAND — Mark Strong Sr., the Thomaston man who was convicted earlier this month of assisting his mistress in running a prostitution business out of her Kennebunk Zumba fitness studio, choked back tears on Thursday as he was sentenced to 20 days in jail and issued $3,000 in fines at Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

On March 6, a jury at York County Superior Court in Alfred found Strong, 57, guilty of several counts of promotion of prostitution, and one count of conspiracy to promote prostitution ”“ Class D and E misdemeanors, respectively.

Strong was ordered to serve 20 days for the first count of promotion of prostitution, and 5 and 10 days respectively for the remaining counts, to be served concurrently.

Alexis Wright of Wells, the owner of the Pura Vida Studio and Strong’s mistress, who has been indicted on several counts of prostitution and tax evasion, is slated to face her own jury trial in May, although it is unclear if she will instead pursue a plea deal.

Defense attorneys filed paperwork Thursday appealing Strong’s conviction. He is currently being held without bail at the York County Jail in Alfred pending the outcome of the appeal.

Addressing the court, Strong appeared visibly shaken as he apologized to his wife, Julie, his two sons, and the rest of his family.

“I guess I’m the only one who knows the remorse I feel,” he said. Strong added that he has worked to achieve “spiritual growth” since his arrest last year, but went on to say, “I have much more work ahead of me.”

Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan, the prosecuting attorney for the state, said in early March that promotion of prostitution can carry a maximum sentence of 364 days in jail.

On Thursday, McGettigan argued for the maximum allowable sentence, claiming evidence showed a lack of remorse on Strong’s part.

“This was not a man in love,” said McGettigan. “This was not a voyeur. This was a hard-nosed businessman.”

McGettigan cited the astonishing amount of evidence that was presented at trial, including videos of Wright engaging in sexual acts with clients, still pictures from those videos that were found on Strong’s computer hard drive during a raid last year, and ledgers found on computers belonging to both Strong and Wright that meticulously detail sexual acts and prices charged to clients, or “johns.”

At least 18 men have already pleaded guilty to engaging a prostitute in connection with the operation.

“This was not a victimless crime,” said McGettigan, referring to the scores of johns who were filmed without their knowledge.

Jurors in Strong’s trial agreed with prosecutors that Strong watched live, via Internet video streaming, Wright’s sexual acts as they happened in real time. Strong was originally indicted on 46 additional counts pertaining to invasion of privacy, but those charges were thrown out in January when Justice Nancy Mills decided that persons in the act of committing crime have no reasonable expectation of privacy.

“He made multiple errors of judgment over a long period of time,” said McGettigan. “These were calculated decisions,” that should be considered an “aggravating factor.”

Strong’s wife, Julie, sobbed as she implored Mills to hand down a lenient sentence.

“He suffers from an illness that is curable,” said Julie Strong, adding that her “worst nightmare has turned into one of God’s greatest gifts: A new marriage with a new man.

“Nobody chooses to do what he did.”

Defense attorney Dan Lilley equated Strong’s misdemeanor convictions to joy-riding, hunting turkeys out of season and traffic offenses, and argued that Strong’s age, lack of criminal background and community involvement should result in a minimized sentence.

“If Winston Churchill were alive today, and were he asked about this case ”¦ he would have said, ”˜Never has so much been said about so little,’” said Lilley, who made mention of the state resources used in the pursuit of Strong’s indictment and conviction ”“ including involvement from multiple law enforcement agencies, from Kennebunk and Thomaston police to the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit and the FBI.

“The state in this case wanted Moby Dick, but they got fish bait,” said Lilley. “He’s already been punished more than this court can do.”

Mills considered both Strong’s age and clean record when handing down the 20-day sentence, saying she accepted that Strong assumed responsibility for his actions. But she also praised the prosecution, telling the court that the state’s “command of the evidence (was) quite extraordinary.”

She dismissed insinuations made by the defense during trial that there was any malfeasance on the part of the Kennebunk Police Department, saying, “The overwhelming evidence in this case could not have been manufactured by biased law enforcement agencies.”

Strong, a licensed private investigator, had conducted an investigation into the conduct of Kennebunk Police officer Audra Presby, who investigated and wrote the affidavit implicating both Strong and Wright in the prostitution business.

If Strong’s conviction holds up to an appeal, he will not be able to renew his private investigator’s license.

Lilley expressed disappointment that the eventual sentence included jail time, but remained optimistic about the appeal.

McGettigan said she was pleased with the outcome.

“We’re very satisfied,” she said.

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 319 or [email protected].