Ex-Springfield teacher pleads to lesser charge in prostitution case that began in 2010

A high-profile Springfield prostitution case came to a quiet close Thursday afternoon.

Laura Fiedler, a former Springfield teacher, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for running a sexually oriented business too close to a park.

Fiedler, 41, and her husband, Mark Fiedler, were originally charged in 2012 with promoting prostitution after a sting operation at a massage business they were running out of the Landmark Building in downtown Springfield.

After receiving tips in 2010 about possible sexual activity at the business, court documents say Springfield police launched an investigation that culminated with an undercover officer negotiating for a massage and oral sex from a worker for $150.

When officers raided the business, the worker allegedly told police the Fiedlers arranged her meetings with clients.

Mark Fiedler pleaded guilty in 2013 to promoting prostitution and was sentenced to probation.

Laura Fiedler has maintained she did not know there was prostitution going on. She entered an Alford plea on Thursday, meaning she did not admit committing a crime but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her.

As part of the plea deal, Laura Fiedler was sentenced to 2 years of unsupervised probation and ordered to complete 60 hours of community service.

A condition of the plea agreement is that Laura Fiedler had to resign from Springfield Public Schools. A school district spokesman said Fiedler had been on administrative leave since 2011. The administrative leave was paid through Dec. 31, 2012, at which point it became unpaid.

Missouri law includes several examples of what a "sexually oriented business" is, including strip clubs, adult bookstores or arcades and "sexual encounter centers" which include "physical contact in the form of wrestling or tumbling between two or more persons when one or more of the persons is semi-nude."

Laura Fiedler's attorney Scott Pierson said his client felt like this plea deal was in her best interest because she wants to move forward after the case has been litigated for several years.

The case went on so long that the Landmark Building has undergone a complete renovation since the Fiedlers were charged. The former office building is now an apartment complex called The Frisco. 

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