ELLICOTT CITY, Md. -- A woman charged with running a prostitution ring has an unusual resume, including a doctorate in sociology and an academic interest in women's studies.

Brandy Britton, 41, earned her doctorate from the University of California at San Francisco and founded the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research in the Ellicott City home where she allegedly ran the prostitution service.

Britton, a former sociology and anthropology professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was charged this week with four counts related to prostitution, The (Baltimore) Sun reported. Police say she charged hourly rates of $300 and up.

On the Web site that police allege she used to solicit business, Britton says she receives money for modeling and companionship -- not for prostitution. On the Web site, she went by the name Alexis Angel.

Britton was released on her own recognizance Tuesday, according to a Howard County court commissioner. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Web site police took notice of advertises her home as a "discreet, upscale location in Howard County" offering evening and full-day appointments for up to $2,500.

Britton was arrested Tuesday after an undercover Howard County police officer scheduled an appointment with her. Court documents say she led the lieutenant to an upstairs bedroom, told him to undress and leave $400 on the table by the door. He then left the room and let in vice and narcotics officers.

Police confiscated numerous business records in Britton's name. Police refused to give details of those records, including whether they listed clients' names.

"She was brazen, but you would have to be looking for her site," said Pfc. Brandon Justice, a spokesman for Howard County police. "When a person uses mass communication, it increases the likelihood that police are going to be tipped off."

Police said they charged her with "engaging in prostitution, maintaining a building for the purpose of prostitution, allowing a building to be used for prostitution, and allowing a person into a building for the purpose of prostitution."

Neighbors said they remember men visiting the house at all hours. They also complained about Britton's two potbellied pigs.

"You come out your front yard and have pigs in your front yard," said Ed Gordon, one of Britton's neighbors. "It wasn't exactly what we expected in this neighborhood. Of course, there's other things we didn't expect in this neighborhood, either."

In 1999, Britton lost her job at UMBC and filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the university. In dismissing the suit, which is on appeal, a federal judge in Baltimore cited complaints about Britton from UMBC students and colleagues, and an accusation by the National Institutes of Health that Britton falsified data on a federally funded research project. Britton had taught sociology at the school beginning in 1994.

After losing her job, Britton directed the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research Inc. Britton also participated in meetings of a committee of the Maryland Drug Treatment Task Force, chaired by then-Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

Howard County police began investigating Britton in March 2005 after receiving "numerous" complaints and then finding "her services and rates" posted online, according to charging documents.

The Web site, however, states: "Money exchanged in legal adult personal services for modeling is simply for my time and companionship. Anything else that may occur is a matter of personal choice between consenting adults of legal age and is not contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for in any manner. This is not an offer of prostitution."

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