Maine man convicted for role in Zumba prostitution case

Knox County, Maine, Correctional Facility booking photograph shows Mark W. Strong Sr., 56, of Thomaston, Maine, arrested for Promotion of Prostitution, a Class D misdemeanor on July 10, 2012.

BOSTON (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday convicted one of two people accused of operating a prostitution business out of a Zumba fitness studio in Kennebunk, Maine, in a scandal that has rocked the popular coastal vacation spot.

A jury meeting in York County Superior Court in Alfred, Maine, convicted Mark Strong, Sr., of Thomaston, Maine, on 13 misdemeanor charges related to promoting prostitution, according to a court official.

He faces up to a year in jail on each charge.

Strong was charged with helping fitness instructor Alexis Wright operate a prostitution business out of a Zumba dance studio the two ran, and with videotaping some of the 150 clients whose names Wright documented.

Wright is due to go to trial on charges of engaging in and promoting prostitution in May.

Kennebunk, located in southern Maine about 85 miles northeast of Boston, is a few miles away from Kennebunkport, where former U.S. President George H.W. Bush has a summer home.

(Reporting By Scott Malone; Editing by David Gregorio)