The beautiful, accused accomplice madam of Anna Gristina has been released from custody on $100,000 — posted today by her on-again, off-again beau from Long Island — after pleading not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Jaynie Baker, 30, of Williamsburg, turned up in court in high heels and snug tan slacks, her strawberry blonde hair falling in ringlets half-way down the back of a satiny pale blue blouse. She was seated and still rear-cuffed as she softly spoke the words “Not guilty.”
“This woman is a compassionate, caring, and socially conscious young woman,” her lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, told reporters, saying her continent-spanning charitable work includes fundraising in India, assisting at a Romanian orphanage, and helping out in New York City soup kitchens.
“Ms. Baker is a wonderful, smart, caring person,” the lawyer insisted. Asked what his client did for a living, he said, “She has a legitimate job. She has been involved in legitimate matchmaking.”
“There is nothing sordid about it,” he added. “She has been a matchmaker, and that is what she is doing.”
Baker’s bail is in stark contrast to that of her co-defendant, Gristina. The so-called Soccer Mom Madam remains in Rikers in lieu of $2 million bail, set after prosecutors argued that she’d been caught on wiretaps boasting of police protection and a network of wealthy clients who could help her flee.
Baker’s bond was posted by Marcus Laun, a banker from Millneck, who a source described as an on again, off again boyfriend.
“I guess he’s on again,” the source quipped.
Laun put up the deed to his house at 347 Ridge Lane. A former director of GC China Turbine, according to online records, he did not appear in court today.
Baker had been wanted by the DA’s office since Feb. 22, when she and Gristina were indicted for allegedly running a millionaire’s-only, $2,000 a visit call girl ring.
Baker was visiting her younger sister, Jessica, in Los Angeles when The Post broke the story that she was Gristina’s unnamed co-defendant, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Lead prosecutor Charles Linehan intimated in court that subsequent to the story breaking, Baker flew from LA to Cabo San Lucas on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Linehan said he couldn’t say for sure if Baker left the country knowing she was wanted.
“Without indicating that she fled, she did end up leaving the country and going to Mexico,” after news of her indictment broke, Linehan said.
But her lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, insisted Baker did not know she was wanted when she left for Mexico, and turned herself in as soon as the schedules of airlines and prosecutors would allow.
“She immediately contacted me,” upon learning from friends that the press had “camped out” at her apartment, Gottlieb told reporters after court.
“I asked the district attorney what was going on, and I learned of the indictment, and I told them she would be on the first flight back to the states,” he said.
Baker was momentarily detained by customs upon landing at Newark Airport Saturday night, when officials saw the arrest warrant, Gottlieb said. But Linehan personally informed officials that Baker would be turning herself in, the lawyer said, and Baker was allowed to return home.
Baker would have turned herself in on Monday — but prosecutors were busy handling Gristina’s appearance that day, and delayed Baker’s surrender process by a day, he said.
Baker’s bond was handled by celebrity bail bondsman Ira Judelson, who handled Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s $5 million bail last year.
Prosecutors say the Gristina-Baker ring operated out of Gristina’s 200-acre Monroe County pig farm and a cramped one-bedroom “brothel” she rented on E. 78th St.
The case won headlines after prosecutors told a judge that over the course of five years of surveilling Gristina they have repeatedly captured her on wiretaps boasting of having “protection” from law enforcement and guidance from her wealthy clientele.