Memphis mayor claims victim of sex plot

Officers are investigating a nightclub waitress' claim that a well-known attorney told her she would be paid up to $150,000 to seduce the mayor and secretly videotape the encounter, the city's police director said Thursday.

Mayor Willie Herenton charged that political enemies conspired to involve him in a sex scandal to undermine his re-election efforts.

"I stand before you today as a victim of a politically motivated conspiracy," Herenton said at a news conference.

Herenton, who plans to run for a fifth term in October, refused to name the people he believes were plotting against him. He said he has called on police, the U.S. Justice Department and the governor to investigate.

Police Director Larry Godwin said an investigation has begun into a report by Gwendolyn D. Smith, 29, that she was paid to try to entice Herenton and damage his reputation.

"The mayor has asked for an investigation ... and it needs to be investigated," Godwin said.

Smith wrote in letters to Herenton, the police and the state prosecutor's office that she was told by Richard Fields, a politically active defense lawyer, that she would be paid up to $150,000 to lure the mayor into a liaison and record it.

Fields said he knew nothing about a plot against the mayor.

"It came from her imagination," he said Thursday.