Spence's name came to national prominence in the aftermath of a June 29, 1989, front-page headline article in
The Washington Times identifying Spence as a major customer of a homosexual escort service which had been raided in February and was now under investigation by the
Secret Service, the
District of Columbia Police and the
United States Attorney's Office for suspected credit card fraud. The ring was being operated by a man named Henry Vinson who had been using a funeral parlor to
launder the money being made. Clients included "key officials of the
Reagan and
Bush administrations" and Spence was mentioned by name. The newspaper said he spent as much as $20,000 a month on the service. Among the guests in Spence's midnight tours of the White House were two male prostitutes. A White House probe regarding the tours led the
Secret Service to furlough three guards, but it was also publicly stated that the First Family's security was never threatened, and it was explained that security guards were allowed to give private tours.
President George H. W. Bush was made aware of the scandal. A follow-up article featured reports from Spence's friends and guests indicating that Spence's home was wired up with extensive surveillance equipment and that he would attempt to entice guests into sexual encounters with prostitutes to use as
blackmail. Spence entered a downward spiral in the wake of the exposé, increasingly involving himself with
call boys and
crack. He disappeared briefly, evading government agents who wanted to
subpoena him to testify about the Vinson prostitution ring. Spence made headlines again after his arrest on July 31, 1989, at the
Barbizon Hotel on East 63rd Street in Manhattan for criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of cocaine. In August, 1989 during an eight-hour interview with the
Washington Times, Spence denied that deGueldre alone had cleared the White House tours and explained that the guard had only served as a guide. The reporters, Michael Hedges and Jerry Seper would write that "Mr. Spence hinted the tours were arranged by 'top level' persons", including
Donald Gregg, national security adviser to Bush, then vice president, at the time the tours were given. When pressed to identify who it was who got him inside the White House, Spence asked "Who was it who got [long-term CIA operative]
Félix Rodríguez in to see Bush?", indicating that he was alluding to Gregg. Gregg himself dismissed the allegation as "absolute bull", according to Hedges and Seper. "It disturbs me that he can reach a slimy hand out of the sewer to grab me by the ankle like this," he told the reporters. "The allegations are totally false." During the same interview Spence claimed that the surveillance equipment at his home had been set up by "friendly" intelligence agents. Rumors of Craig's ties to the
CIA dated back to his Vietnam correspondent days, and the CIA was also speculated to be one of the sources of his wealth by his acquaintances.
Interactions with Vinson and Ebony and Ivory Brothel A year after Henry W. Vinson's acquisition of Ebony and Ivory, an escort business operating out of Washington, D.C., he had been phoned by Spence, who disclosed that he was a lobbyist who lived in D.C.'s upscale neighborhood
Kalorama. Spence requested an escort who was "young, boyish, and between 18 to 19 years old". Two hours after this exchange, Spence requested another escort. Following this exchange, Spence became a regular and would often phone daily for escorts, which amassed to spending over $20,000 a month. Many of the escorts working for Vinson mentioned orgies occurring during these sessions with Spence. On one of the occasions in which Vinson had been invited to Spence's home, where
Lawrence King was also present, King spoke of his and Spence's endeavors in operating a pedophile network that flew children from coast to coast as well as murdering children. During this visit, Spence had also shown Vinson a two-way mirror that had a video camera on a tripod pointed towards the living room. Spence proceeded to tell Vinson that his home was "bugged for clandestine surveillance" and that "CIA operatives" had installed the video cameras throughout his house. Following this experience, Spence threatened Vinson about the "consequences" if he was to speak about the equipment. On a following visit where both King and Spence were present, they attempted to coerce Vinson into ensnaring children for them. Following this visit, Vinson decided to stop providing Spence with escort services and processing Spence's friend Tony's credit cards. Spence also mentioned sending escorts working for Ebony and Ivory to the White House for late night tours. Vinson asked the escort in question who was sent regarding this visit, and he confirmed he had visited the White House under Spence's command in the late night hours and that Secret Service personnel had waved him through the gate. In follow-up visits with escorts who had serviced Spence, they mentioned that minors were also present at Spence's parties. Paul Bonacci, who was a
Franklin scandal victim-witness, also told investigators that he was brought to Washington, D.C., for a private White House tour facilitated by Craig Spence for young male prostitutes.
Credit card fraud At some point, a man named Tony started to phone Ebony and Ivory. Tony claimed he was a friend of Spence. On one visit, Tony claimed that he had also run a gay escort service and had worked closely with Spence. During this visit, Tony asked Vinson if he could process credit cards, which Vinson had followed up with through his mother's ambulance company. In a follow-up visit with Tony, Tony mentioned a credit card processing company operating out of Florida and that his friend who worked for the company would help him set up the process with a merchant account. This led to Vinson processing credit cards weekly for Tony. ==Death==