Steven Santiago Maese, 31, was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County jail Monday after he left his lawyer's office. He is scheduled to go to trial today on felony counts of exploiting a prostitute, money laundering and racketeering.

At a court hearing Tuesday, the target of the alleged tampering was identified as Tiffany Curtis, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty in February to two misdemeanors in the case. Curtis, a principle of The Doll House escort service, was given a suspended sentence of one year.

Third District Judge Randall Skanchy Tuesday afternoon denied requests by defense attorney Ed Brass to delay and change the venue for the trial. Brass had cited publicity about Maese in his request and noted at Tuesday's hearing that three newspaper articles about the case had been published as recently as Friday.

But the judge pointed out that jurors will be picked from the most populous county in the state and said Maese can have a fair trial.

Maese, who ran The Doll House until several weeks ago, was charged in October 2006. His case has been the subject of recent media coverage for two reasons.

The first was the dismissal in March of veteran prosecutor Kent Morgan from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. Morgan was accused of leaking confidential information about the case to Maese, a friend who helped on his unsuccessful campaign to win the Republican nomination for district attorney in 2006.

Morgan denies the allegation and is appealing his firing to the county Career Services Council. A pretrial hearing is set for May 22.

Then, a state House candidate's yearlong relationship with Maese became an issue in her campaign.

Kelly Ann Booth, a Democrat who wanted to represent her Salt Lake City district, says she was unaware that Maese ran The Doll House until a few weeks ago. She broke off her engagement to Maese and on Tuesday dropped out of the race.

A probable cause statement filed Tuesday by the District Attorney's Office claims Maese used to have a personal relationship with a witness in his case and started following her around the Salt Lake Valley.

The witness said she was fearful because of past physical abuse by Maese, according to the statement.

The witness says she tried to evade Maese while driving but he continued to follow, finally staring at her before driving away.

On Monday, he allegedly followed her again on Interstate 15 and swerved his car in front of her vehicle twice.

pmanson@sltrib.com

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* RUSS RIZZO contributed to this report.