PORTSMOUTH — A city resident charged with hiring a prostitute in Maine was caught because he called police to complain that the woman “shorted him 10 minutes,” said Old Orchard Beach Police Sgt. Gerard Hamilton.

PORTSMOUTH — A city resident charged with hiring a prostitute in Maine was caught because he called police to complain that the woman “shorted him 10 minutes,” said Old Orchard Beach Police Sgt. Gerard Hamilton.



Charged with a count of “engaging a prostitute” is Scott Pipher, 34, with a last known address of 358 Court St.



Old Orchard Beach Police announced Pipher's arrest on Monday, but Hamilton said the case began in the spring. The sergeant said Pipher called police on March 25 and complained that the woman he hired did “not give him his money's worth” by cutting their time together by ten minutes.



Hamilton said Old Orchard Beach detectives launched an investigation, which led to the arrests of two alleged prostitutes, also announced Monday. He said Pipher contacted the alleged prostitutes through a Web site.



Pipher's last known address is a historic home at Strawbery Banke Museum, but someone from the nonprofit organization called Old Orchard Police to report he no longer lives there, said Hamilton. Pipher did not return a message seeking his comment and police in Maine and Portsmouth reported having no other address for him.



He's scheduled to be arraigned in the Biddeford Maine District Court on Dec. 12.



Pipher is named on the Web sites National Blacklist and Bad Boy Client List as someone who has prompted complaints from so-called escorts. The sites serve as databases for escorts to share information about clients.



On one Web site, Pipher is described as being “notorious for booking out-calls and then not answering his door or phone.” According to a Portsmouth police report, an officer was dispatched to Pipher's former residence on Sept. 30 when a woman complained that she was booked to perform a private dance, but said the man who ordered the dance refused to answer his door when she arrived.



The dancer claimed it was a theft of her services, but police Capt. Mike Schwartz countered it wasn't a theft because she never danced.



A week later, police said, they were called by a woman who said she was hired as an “exotic dancer” to go to the same address, became “freaked out” by the man who hired her and fled in such a hurry she left some of her clothing behind.



Deputy Police Chief Corey MacDonald said police investigators had difficulty with witnesses in both of those instances and there was no related arrest.